FT Observer column Thursday, December 19th
Lone rebel
Who is that masked man? After almost a decade of rebellion, Mexicans could know soon.
Subcomandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista rebels and master of the art of smoking a pipe through a ski mask, is wagering his balaclava in a debate. And he's willing to do so against none other than Baltasar Garzon, the Spanish judge once called one of the world's sexiest men after his prosecution of Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator.
Marcos, whose large proboscis is evident even under his black mask, has called the judge a "grotesque clown" and a "fascist" for his campaign against the Basque separatists. In response, Garzon challenged him to debate the merits of terrorism, rebellion and justice.
For the past month, the two have been sparring in the Mexican press. But now it is up to the judge to respond to the rebel leader's request for a seven-day debate in the Canary Islands on the Basque cause.
The stakes: if a jury hands victory to Marcos, then Garzon must defend the Zapatista cause - greater rights for indigenous people; if it goes the other way, Marcos has to take off the mask.
Observer wonders if Marcos is worried about losing: the Canary Islands are a nice place to get a tan.