January 1, 2003 is the eighth anniversary of the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas. Known as much for its long silences as its bursts of high profile action, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) has stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy in Mexico and Spain, including a vitriolic challenge from Judge Baltasar Garzon, famous for his ground breaking pursuit of Augusto Pinochet.

Subcomandante Marcos stands accused of being an apologist for Basque terrorism after a letter, pointedly dated October 12, was published in the Mexican daily Jornada in November.

Responding to the accusations, Marcos jumped into the heart of the semantic debate over terrorism, called for both sides of the Basque struggle to "give the word a chance" as an example to the rest of the world, and unveiled the Zapatistas' latest bold initiative in their own struggle for indigenous rights.

The long and multi-layered letter, written in anticipation of a Zapatista-inspired event in Madrid in November, wastes little time before referring to Spain's King Juan Carlos as a "constipated little king." He calls Judge Garzon, "a grotesque clown," and belittles his unsuccessful attempt to bring Pinochet to justice for crimes against humanity. As an investigating judge on Spain's high court, Garzon directs a large part of the Spanish government's assault on the ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty), which has carried out bombings and other attacks in Spain since 1959. Garzon has, among other things, overseen the dismantling of Basque political organizations and at least one newspaper the government considered to be supporting the ETA.

The Basques have lived in their lands among the Pyrenees mountains bordering Spain and France for tens of thousands of years, far longer than any other group in Europe. The have historically retained a large degree of cultural and political autonomy and even now many Basques refuse to recognize the Spanish-French border as dividing their homeland.

Marcos' letter accused the Judge of "bringing forth true state terrorism," by declaring "the political struggle of Basque Country illegal." And he says that Garzon "demonstrates his true fascist vocation by denying the Basque people the right to fight politically for a legitimate cause."

After underscoring that the date of October 12 was not an accident, Marcos wanted to correct "the erroneous idea that the situation of the Indian people of Mexico is due to the Spanish Conquest." Instead, he said, "compared to the neoliberal governors of today," Cortez and the "scoundrels of armor and cassocks that accompanied him were brothers of charity." And, he said, from the people of Spain "we have only received brotherly words, unconditional solidarity, attentive ears, helping hands that salute, that embrace."

Writing on the 510th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas, Marcos promised "to invade the Iberian Peninsula" by way of the Canary Islands, the last European outpost visited by Columbus on his own voyage. The letter hints that reversing Columbus's voyage is only a step on the journey to "globalize the moldy tortilla and the rancid alcohol. We're going to see how the number of globalophobes grows geometrically."

After the letter was published, Garzon responded with his own letter, published in Mexico's El Universal on Dec 7. "I am not going to discuss you calling me a `grotesque clown,'" he said. "I prefer to see my name openly associated with democracy as a clown to hiding it behind false rebellion, violence, lies, ignorance, a lack of ethics and scruples, and the rest of the traits that you, with growing clarity, represent."

Garzon excoriated Marcos for insulting the Spanish people who "have suffered the scourge of terrorism for more than 30 years." He accused Marcos of dismissing the hundreds of victims of ETA violence.

Referring to Marcos' jibes at Spanish politicians, Garzon said: "The despicable insults you have used do not affect them -- they demean you."

Garzon expressed disappointment that Marcos has taken a wrong turn and betrayed his people and his cause. "You are nothing more than a boat adrift. In the beginning, in front of your `army,' you had the sympathy of many (including mine)." He made fun of Marcos' ever present pipe, and challenged the masked guerrilla leader to a public debate.

Marcos responded with five concurrent letters issued on December 13. In one, to Garzon, he accepted the challenge to a debate. Invoking "the laws of knight-errantry," Marcos claimed the right to set the conditions.

And it is in the conditions, and the other four letters, that the Zapatistas advanced the game hinted at in the first letter.

The first condition Marcos laid out for the debate is that it be held in the Canary Islands from April 3 to 10, 2003. The second condition requires Judge Garzon to use his considerable influence to "secure the necessary and sufficient guarantees and safe-conduct, from the Spanish government as well as from the Mexican, so that the knight who has been challenged and six of his gallants can attend the duel and return home safely."

The third through fifth conditions call for the debate to be held "parallel to but not simultaneously," with a meeting "between all the political, social, and cultural actors in the Basque problem who so desire." Garzon shall attend the meeting and urge the Spanish government to send its own delegation, and to facilitate a positive atmosphere for the event. Marcos said the meeting would be only "to listen and to talk."

The rest of the conditions involve the ground rules, and promise that should Garzon win the debate, he will have the honor of unmasking Marcos.

If Marcos is declared the winner, Garzon will be obligated to legally advise the EZLN in pursuing their "demand for the recognition of indigenous rights and culture, which, in violation of international laws and common sense, have not been recognized by the three branches of the Mexican government." If he is willing, Garzon may also "represent the EZLN legally in front of those international bodies." The other four letters were to the ETA, Basque political and civil organizations, the Basque left, and Spanish Civil Society.

In the letters Marcos asked for their participation in the April dialogue and called on the ETA to observe a unilateral cease fire of 177 days, beginning on December 24. Recognizing that ETA members would face great risks by attending the meetings Marcos said, "if you are willing to die or to be taken prisoner in military actions you carry out, I do not see why you would not be willing to suffer the same in a political action."

He apologized to the Spanish and Basque people and begged their forgiveness for any pain the Zapatistas' earlier words had caused. "Despite the fact that the text clearly made reference to the Basque political struggle, and not the military one, the words were intentionally ambiguous." He said that the Zapatistas had intended to provoke a reaction, fully aware that they were putting their moral capital at risk. They knew that by not explicitly condemning ETA terrorism, they would be accused of supporting it.

Should the ETA reject his call for a cease fire and dialogue, he offers himself as their next victim, helpfully suggesting they could accuse him of "collaborating with the Spanish State."

In making his plea for the Spanish and Basque society to come together to "give the word a chance," Marcos asked that "even if everything goes against you and nothing turns out as you would have liked, to open that space however you can, and to call on all those who want to, to speak and to listen to what everyone has to say and hear."