Tourists Flee Battle Between Rival Mexican Groups

Updated: Friday, 04 Feb 2011, 11:20 AM MST
Published : Friday, 04 Feb 2011, 11:20 AM MST

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AFP) - A group of tourists, including foreigners, were rescued by helicopter after a gunfight erupted at checkpoint in southern Mexico that collects tourist fees, killing one person, local officials said late Thursday.

The 17 tourists were visiting the waterfalls of Chiapas when shooting broke out between rival groups of locals -- one supporting the powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the other supporting leftist Zapatista rebels, state officials said.

The tourists included visitors from France, Canada and Argentina, a source at the prosecutor's office said.

The tourists had been holed up since Wednesday in the tourist center at the Aguas Azules cascades in Chiapas while the clashes raged.

One man was shot to death with a rifle, and another was seriously wounded, the prosecutor's office said, giving no further details.

Police finally took control of the checkpoint, which has been controlled by Zapatista sympathizers for the past three years, local officials said.

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