Children's book by guerrilla gets funding after NEA backs out

A private foundation has promised to contribute $15,000 to publish a children's book written by Mexican guerrilla leader Subcomandante Marcos, making up for a $7,500 grant withdrawn last week by the National Endowment for the Arts.

"We don't like any kind of political censorship," said J. Patrick Lennan, head of a foundation in Santa Fe, N.M., named for his late father. "And this smacks of political censorship."

NEA chairman William Ivey canceled the award for Cincos Puntos Press of El Paso, Texas, to help publish a bilingual version of the book after a reporter noted the Mexican revolutionary was the author. "The Story of Colors" is a folk tale about Mayan gods adding color to the world.

Mr. Ivey said he acted because some of the money might have reached Marcos, who has battled the Mexican government since he led an uprising five years ago in Chiapas.