Two months after a new peasant rebel group burst onto Mexico's national stage in Guerrero, the Mexican army has deployed troops in a swath of rugged mountains that extends across four states. Residents of villages identified with an independent but legal peasant organization now say they are under virtual siege. This is the first of two articles about the growing role of the military in Mexico. PNS correspondent Joel Simon's book on the Mexican environmental crisis, Endangered Mexico, will be published by Sierra Club Books next spring.

EMILIANO ZAPATA, MEXICO -- Nicolas Martinez may look like an ordinary Mexican peasant in a straw hat and muddy sandals, but when an army commander asked to search his modest home for weapons, Martinez demanded to see a search warrant.

"I know how to read and I've taught myself a thing or two," said Martinez, a member of a left-wing peasant organization which the government claims is backing an armed rebellion here.

In an isolated region without paved roads or running water, Martinez's legal savvy inspired only amusement from the soldiers who turned his house upside down. The residents of Emiliano Zapata, a tiny hamlet perched on a hill above a fog-filled valley, say they are under siege.

The army has set up camp just below the town blocking the path villagers use to bring their animals to pasture. Residents complain that army patrols march through their corn fields, search their houses at will, and prevent them from leaving at night. All this, said Martinez, because they belong to an independent but legal peasant organization called the Democratic Front of Eastern Mexico (FEDOMEZ).

Government officials claim otherwise. Interior Minister Emilio Chuayffet describes FEDOMEZ and two other radical organizations as front organizations for the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), an armed guerrilla group that burst onto the national scene on June 28 during a meeting to commemorate the one year anniversary of the massacre of 17 peasants in the state of Guerrero.

The EPR is the second rebel group to emerge in Mexico, after the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) which launched a revolt in the southern state of Chiapas in 1994. The Zapatistas, who have shown limited military capability but a flair for public relations, are currently engaged in peace talks with the government and are not allied with the EPR.

The EPR, while smaller in numbers than the Zapatistas, appears better armed and more committed to military action. EPR commanders have acknowledged links to a clandestine group called PROCUP. PROCUP began as the urban wing of a guerrilla group called the Party of the Poor which operated in Guerrero in the 1970s.

Since the EPR's first public appearance in June, there have been periodic reports of armed attacks and public appearances throughout Guerrero but so far the military has only acknowledged one dead and four wounded soldiers. The EPR, however, claims to have killed or injured 59 soldiers.

The government has also given conflicting accounts of exactly where the EPR guerrillas are operating. Last week an interior ministry official said that their actions were limited to the state of Guerrero.

But the EPR has given two press conferences outside Guerrero: one in an unknown location identified only as the Eastern Mountains of Mexico, and another last weekend within Mexico City. EPR commanders claim they are active in Mexico State, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Mexico City.

The Mexican army, in fact, has deployed troops not only in Guerrero but in a swath of rugged mountains known as the Huasteca which extends across the states of Veracruz, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosi.

Troop movements in the area of Hidalgo near Emiliano Zapata appear especially intense. At least several hundred troops are on constant patrol, combing the mountains for signs of the rebels. Residents report that soldiers have entered their homes searching for arms and military uniforms. The army has confirmed that at least one major arms cache has been found and there are widespread rumors of others including several machine guns which residents reportedly tried to smuggle past a roadblock in a coffin.

Military action in the Huasteca appears far from random. The army seems to have singled out FEDOMEZ-controlled towns.

One high ranking military official in the region confirmed that the army is searching for armed troops and that 100 rebels are hiding out in a rugged mountain range called el cerro de la cuesta where FEDOMEZ is active. According to the official, the EPR began in Hidalgo five years ago and has been driven back there by the army's counter insurgency in Guerrero. "We've got the situation under control," said the official.

FEDOMEZ members have camped out in the region's capital of Huejuetla demanding "an end to the militarization of the Huasteca." They allege the hunt for the guerrillas is an excuse to repress the independent peasant movement.

While FEDOMEZ members want the military out, other peasants in the region who back the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) welcome the army. "To me it seems like a good idea, it makes me feel more secure," says one farmer referring to the military presence. "Emiliano Zapata is the only place around here that's not with the PRI."

Founded 15 years ago by FEDOMEZ members fleeing persecution in a nearby town, the town of Emiliano Zapata was named in honor of Mexico's most famous peasant revolutionary.

While residents deny any direct involvement with the EPR, they acknowledge a strong affinity for the rebel group.

"Their demands and our demands are almost the same," Martinez explained as his neighbors nodded in agreement. "They want justice, we want justice. They want liberty, we want liberty. In this sense, we're supporting them."

While Martinez claimed that FEDOMEZ is committed to achieving its goals through peaceful means, he didn't rule out a change of strategy. Armed struggle, Martinez concluded, is "a path we could arrive at in the future."