They were deported after being accused of supporting rebels and participating in founding the council. The Italians, carrying backpacks, trudged under a broiling noonday tropical sun for many miles Wednesday. Later, their caravan of small buses also drove through the police lines and the observers boarded the vehicles again. It was not known late Wednesday night whether the observers reached the village. In a radio report from Mexico City, Solis Camara said the government is reviewing whether the Italians violated the terms of their visas by insisting on traveling to the village.
Mexican law bans foreign involvement in domestic politics.
More than two dozens foreigners have been expelled from Chiapas since January, and a total of more than 200 in the last two years. The Italians would be by far the largest single group expelled to date. Only 10 of the observers had permission to visit Taniperlas. The leftist Zapatista rebels staged a brief uprising in Chiapas in January 1994. Peace talks that began soon after have been stalled since August 1996.