MEXICO . . . STARVING THE REBELS OUT

After days of hunting Zapatista rebels in the southern Chiapas state, Mexican officials declared that "order and legality have been re-established in the region." If so, it has come about in a most brutal fashion. TIME Mexico City bureau chief Laura Lopez reports from Chiapas that as guerilla leaders have taken refuge in the jungle, the Mexican military has cut off virtually all their supply lines. Government tanks and transports have poured into dozens of villages, frightening thousands of people who had secretly fed and supported the Zapatistas into fleeing into the jungle. Lopez reports: "They can''t eat Ñ there''s no food out there. Many of these people are literally hiding in trees right now." President Ernesto Zedillo, meanwhile, is gaining support in Mexico''s Congress for a general amnesty for any Zapatistas who give up now. Two communiques from the rebels today were "fairly belligerent," Lopez says, but "they don''t have much choice if they want to survive."