ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) -- Seven leftist rebels carrying assault rifles
                  showed up uninvited at a campaign rally held by an opposition alliance
                  candidate in the mayoral race in this Pacific coast resort, and the guerrillas
                  got a rousing round of applause from the mainly poor audience.

                  Opposition candidate Zeferino Torreblanco decided to take his campaign to
                  the unpaved streets of the impoverished Acapulco suburb of "Unidos Por
                  Guerrero" Sunday, but he didn't count on the presence of members of the
                  Insurgent Popular Revolutionary Army.

                  Three rebels, including two women, grabbed the microphone and delivered
                  a short statement to the crowd while four colleagues took up positions on
                  the edge of the crowd.

                  "You shouldn't allow vote fraud again, and if that happens, you have an
                  option, to join the thousands of people who are joining our ranks," one of
                  the women said. The statement was greeted by a round of applause and
                  cheers.

                  The statement was an apparent reference to opposition accusations of vote
                  fraud by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has controlled the
                  state government for the last 70 years, in April elections for the Guerrero
                  state governorship which it narrowly won.

                  Torreblanco quickly disassociated himself from the rebels, but called on the
                  state government to begin negotiations with the group, a split-off from the
                  People's Revolutionary Army, a leftist guerrilla organization which first
                  emerged in Guerrero in 1996 and which has staged sporadic attacks on
                  police and military targets.

                  Both major opposition parties sponsoring Torreblanco also disassociated
                  themselves from the rebel movement.

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
                               published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.