Que Viva Las Zapatistas

By: Karim Hyderali

In1910, Mexico was in the midst of a revolution. Two factions rose to power due to the political turmoil caused by President Porfirio Díaz; the Villistas had taken up arms in Northern Mexico, and the Zapatistas had taken up arms in Southern Mexico. The two groups had collaborated to overthrow the oppressive regime of Porfirio Díaz which had oppressed the masses of Mexico by enforcing anti-Indigenous and anti-working class policies onto the public. Diaz’s policies consisted of censorship of the press, the limitation of land ownership to those with formal legal titles, the reduction of labor protections and the reallocation of Indigenous lands to wealthy foreigners.

In 1911, revolutionary forces had captured El Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, forced Diaz to resign and appointed Francisco Madero as the new President of Mexico. However, Madero had proven to be a weak leader: he failed to reallocate stolen land back to the Indigenous people of Mexico, to acknowledge the need for economic change, to demand that revolutionary forces be disbanded and to ensure workers rights. The lack of reformation angered revolutionary forces and resulted in several small uprisings throughout Mexico. However, the Zapatistas and Villistas were the main driving forces.

At the forefront of the Zapatista army was an Indigenous farmer named Emiliano Zapata. Zapata was born in the pueblo of Anenecuilco, Morelos in the year 1879. Coming from a Nahua family and community, Indigenous sovereignty and prosperity meant a great deal to Zapata. Accordingly, he viewed wealthy landowners such as those who owned haciendas as enemies of the native people.1 In 1892, Zapata was arrested during a negotiation with President Porfirio Díaz regarding land seizures and was forced to join the Mexican Army. After his service, he returned home and was elected head of the local council in his pueblo in 1909.

During his tenure, he had to resolve conflicts between hacendados, land owners, and the common public who sought to recuperate their appropriated land. Initially, he used diplomacy to resolve these matters. However, after the government had proven time and time again that they were not on the side of the Indigenous people, he decided that the best course of action was to take back their land by force.

When Francisco Madero promised land reformation, Zapata was quick to support his candidacy for the presidency and formed his army of local peasants and Indigenous people. However, after Madero was put into office, Zapata quickly grew frustrated with his lack of urgency towards land reformation and revolted against Madero’s presidency. The Zapatistas soon began to voice four demands: Reforma, Libertad, Ley y Justicia (Reform, Freedom, Law and Justice).

Fighting continued over the span of the next few years alongside several attempted coup d’etats. Eventually, Zapata decided that it was best to focus on reshaping Morelos, and in 1914, he began to work on land redistribution—returning stolen lands to the Indigneous community. This resulted in prosperity across Morelos and created a brief period of peace that lasted through 1915. Morelos was protected under Zapata’s watch but the revolutionary forces outside of Morelos began to dwindle and defensive fighting persisted around the state for several years.2

In 1917, Venustiano Carranza was elected the Mexican President and had promised to take down revolutionary forces across Mexico and return the land confiscated by revolutionaries to the wealthy. However, in 1918 World War I was coming to an end and President Carranza asked for a truce so that the Zapatistas could provide assistance should the United States invade Mexico, to which they declined.

Zapata would go on to publicly speak out against Carranza, and due to Zapata being such an influential figure, Carranza made his assasination a top priority. In 1919, General Jesús Guajardo set up a meeting with Zapata, under the premise that he was going to defect from the Mexican army and join the revolution. However, when Zapata arrived at this meeting, he was immediately gunned down and Guajardo’s men disrespectfully took pictures alongside Zapata’s lifeless blood soaked body after dragging him by mule across 25 kilometers.3

Soon after Zapata’s death, the revolution had come to an end, and the Zapatistas were no more but echoes of the past. That was until 1994 when the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) had publicly announced their existence and desire for autonomy from the Mexican government. The EZLN is most prominent in the state of Chiapas which is where they were founded and where they have set up their headquarters. Since their foundation the EZLN has stated that peaceful protests have never achieved the results necessary to improve the lives of the oppressed and therefore stated that they will resort to armed resistance and protest when needed.

On the first day they had publicly announced their existence, the EZLN had found itself engaging in its first violent altercation after seizing control of a significant number of small towns and cities in protest of the enactment of NAFTA. NAFTA is a policy that allows for free trade across North America which greatly hurts the working class as it upholds neoliberalism which is a form of free market capitalism. The Zapatistas had burnt down several police buildings, military barracks and had freed prisoners. The Mexican Army had mobilized quickly and overwhelmed the Zapatistas which had led to about a year of fighting between the EZLN and the Army. Eventually both sides agreed to a ceasefire, however the Army had violated this ceasefire and launched a surprise attack in 1995 which forced the Zapatistas to flee into the jungles in order to avoid political persecution and imprisonment. In 1996 a peace treaty was drafted and signed by both the EZLN and Mexican government which put an end to this first conflict between the two groups and allowed for the EZLN to maintain forms of autonomy throughout Chiapas.

In 2001 President Vicente Fox had requested that the EZLN participate in negotiations with the

Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919)

federal government however the leader of the EZLN Subcomandante Marcos had declined this offer stating that he would only consider this option if seven military installations in Chiapas were shut down. Fox had agreed and soon the military began to pull out, Marcos had then agreed to negotiate with the government however the negotiation did not go as planned and the EZLN had launched a protest in Mexico City and set up chapters in the capital.

In 2005 the EZLN had released a declaration stating that they will offer support to the exploited and dispossessed Indigenous revolutionaries across

Mexico and the rest of the Americas. In 2006 the EZLN had announced the formation and first meeting of the Intercontinental Indigenous Encounter in Sonora. The goal of the meeting was to create a sense of unity among different Indigenous communities and to share their experiences regarding the pain of colonization and oppression.4

In 2016 the Zapatistas had finally entered Mexican politics and had selected María de Jesús Patricio Martínez to represent the EZLN in the 2018 election. As a Nahua woman, she was the first Indegenous woman to run for President in Mexico’s history however she failed to attain a sufficient number of signatures to appear on the official ballot due. Martínez and the EZLN had investigated the issue and found out that voter suppression had prevented a sufficient amount of signatures to be collected. The digital signature process required several apps to be downloaded which required Android 5.0 or higher and wifi that can stay online and stable for hours in order to complete the downloads which are luxuries the majority of Mexico’s working class cannot afford.5

In August 2021 the EZLN had staged a symbolic invasion and reverse conquest against Spain 500 years after the fall of Technochitlan in 1521. The delegation had sailed from Mexico to Spain using the same route the Spanish took when they first arrived to what is now known as modern day Mexico. Upon arriving at the shore they had renamed the new continent that they found themselves on “Slumil K’ajxemk’op’’ which translates to “rebel land” or “Land that doesn’t yield, that doesn’t fail” in Tzotzil, one of the languages of the Maya. The Zapatistas make it clear that the Indigenous people of Mexico have not been conquered and are still currently in resistance to colonization without surrender. One of the representatives of the invasion went on to state “We are going to tell the people of Spain two simple things: one, they didn’t conquer us, we are still here resisting, in rebellion. Second, they don’t have to ask that we forgive them for anything,”6

In September 2021, the EZLN had warned that they are on the verge of civil war against the Mexican government as several of their members were kidnapped and believed that the government played a role in this. After this had occurred the EZLN released a statement that mentioned the government had been abusing its power by violently repressing students and teachers, protecting criminals involved in the drug trade, accepting bribery, financing paramilitary groups who have interests that conflict with the EZLN, the mishandling of COVID safety and vaccination distribution for Indigenous people, Because of these human rights violations and blatant government corruption, the EZLN has warned that civil war may break out in Chiapas.7

After the reverse conquest of Spain had occurred, the EZLN has been attending meetings with activist organizations all throughout Europe regarding human rights, environmentalism, feminism, immigration, labor rights, Indigenous rights and education of Indigenous culture. The EZLN has found support and recognition in countries such as Vienna, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, The Netherlands and Portugal.

Despite facing centuries of oppression, the Indigenous people of Mexico remain resilient and continue to resist the byproducts of European colonization. Emiliano Zapata’s legacy lives on through revolutionary groups such as the EZLN who fight for human rights, workers rights, minority rights, protecting the environment and Indigenous sovereignty.

4 Norell Brenda. “Yaqui and O’odham Unite to Plan Zapatista Summits,” Intercontinentalcry.org, August 19th, 2007, https://intercontinentalcry.org/yaqui-and-oodham-unite-to-plan-zapatista-summits/ Castellanos, Laura. “Learning, Surviving: Marcos After the Rupture,” Nacla.org, May 1, 2008, https://nacla.org/article/learning-surviving-marcos-after-rupture

5 Gutierrez, Teresa. “Indigenous, Female, Zapatista- and Running for President of Mexico,” Workers.org, February 7, 2018, https://www.workers.org/2018/02/35509/

6 Vidal, Marta. “Zapatistas ‘Invade’ Madrid to Mark Spanish Conquest Anniversary,” Aljazeera.com. August 13, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/13/ zapatistas-invade-madrid-to-mark-spanish-conquest-anniversary

7 “Zapatistas Warn that Chiapas is on the Verge of Civil War, Accuse State of Kidnapping,” Mexiconewsdaily.com, September 21, 2021, https://mexiconewsdaily. com/news/zapatistas-warn-that-chiapas-is-on-verge-of-civil-war-accuse-state-of-kidnapping/