Payton Hill

Baez, Laurna
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
12/01/2014
A Look into Mexicos Autonomous Zone

In this paper I will talk about the Ejrcito Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional, reviewing
how it formed, the groups that it includes, as well as its purpose and the successes and
failures of the movement.
We are sorry for the inconvenience, but this is a revolution.
Subcomandante Marcos
The Ejrcito Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional, or EZLN as it is known, is an ideological
leftist group from the southern state of Chiapas in Mexico. They support minorities
including the LGBT community, indigenous peoples, women, and anyone in the world
who has been marginalized. They claim to be the ideological heir of Emiliano Zapata,
the leader of the southern front of the mexican revolution in the early 1900s. They were
birthed from the 1969 movement FLN (national liberation forces), but after the
decimation of this movement the zapatistas were established. Having been around
since the 80s they started silently building an army in the Latacunga jungle. This army
was made up of mainly university students caught up in the ideas of armed revolution
that was starting to spark throughout latin america. It was a time when many students
were recruited from universities where Marxism was riding high (Romero). After armed
conflict had more or less wiped out the standing front, the leaders penetrated deeper
into the jungle and attempted to integrate themselves into the native indigenous peoples

communities. After a long process of gaining their trust their recruitment started to focus
on the indigenous peoples that make up 30% of the population in the state. On january
1st 1994 Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Alliance, or NAFTA, (NAFTA)
had a double impact on it: the process eroded the Mexican governments legitimacy in
the eyes of the indigenous communities, and it unintentionally strengthened a rebel
group--the Ejrcito Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional(Almazan) The zapatistas stormed
the southern state in protest with an estimated 3000 armed militants taking hold of cities
throughout Chiapas. They burned police and military buildings and claimed the territory
as their own. The victory was short lived however, as the mexican military stormed in
the next day, taking back almost all the towns before a peace treaty was signed 12 days
later. This represented one of the quickest transitions from guerrilla uprising to peace
process in Latin American history(The Zapatista Uprising and Civil Society) The military
then broke the peace agreement in february of 1995 and took back the remaining
territory under EZLN control. The zapatistas retreated to the mountains with all their
leaders still alive and began to evaluate their success and failures. After having been
beaten by force, they started a new campaign. This campaign was taken to the media
and the internet to gain support internationally and get
their cause and purpose out so that the Mexican government wouldnt be able to
demonize them. This worked quite successfully as they are now a very well recognized
movement in the world of revolutionaries.
In the committee we debated all afternoon. We searched for the word in their tongue to
say surrender, and we did not find it. It has no translation in Tzotzil and Tzeltal.

Nobody remembers that the words exist in Tojolbal or Chol. Surrender does not exist in
a true language ---Subcomandante Marcos

The Zapatista movement focuses largely on agrarian land reforms as well as minority
rights and the establishment of a true socialist democracy in Mexico. The EZLN has
attempted to pressure the government to step back and open a pace which can then
be filled by any and all organized groups of mexican civil society (Women in Chiapas).
After the release of the acclaimed 6th declaration on June 28, of 2005, the EZLN has
remained very non violent. They have invited over 500 members of leftist organizations
and countries to express their ideas on human rights and to create a sense of unity
among the freedom fighters and leaders in the world. They have always been a very
unique movement that chooses not to follow others, but instead have built their own
ideas and policies around the mayan culture that the seek to protect, as well as the
needs of other minorities that they seek to defend such as the women farmers. The
EZLN advocated bottom-up democratization rather than the seizing of state power and
nonviolence rather than guerrilla warfare.(The Zapatista Uprising and Civil Society).
They are currently attempting to change the government through grassroots movements
and political means. Instead of trying to rebel against the system they are simply trying
to change it from the inside out. The Zapatista ideology is very open and easy to adopt
all over the world, this movement has captured the imaginations of people throughout
the world, not so much because of the militancy...but because it represents a new
model in a time that left many wondering what shape liberation movements would take
in the 21st century(Women in Chiapas). With this leadership role, the movement has

been able to gain ground and supporters worldwide as well as become the face for
minority rights.

In our dreams we have seen another world, an honest world, a world decidedly more
fair than the one in which we now live. We saw that in this world there was no need for
armies; peace, justice and liberty were so common that no one talked about them as
far-off concepts, but as things such as bread, birds, air, water, like book and voice. ----Subcomandante Marcos

This movement reflects greatly on latin american society as a whole. The tale of the
EZLN is one of people from many walks of life that recognize the violation of the land
and of the native people who try and survive by it. It is a movement not just made up of
intellectuals from universities, but of campesinos and fisherman, from the peasants to
the marginalized urban. It is a movement that encompasses many aspects of latin life
and diversity. Through their broad acceptance and willingness to defend liberty and
justice wherever it needs support has made these people a widely loved group among
progressive thinkers. While they have not achieved their final goal of complete reform
for the peasants and rights for all people, they have been gaining ground and
supporters and as a grassroots movement it cannot be expected to make rapid
changes. Still it has been around now for 30 years and while they have been able to
push the government to make positive changes in Chiapas, they are only slight changes
and no real autonomy has been granted to the workers who hunger so desperately for
it. The movement is about defending those who do not have a political voice, it is about
taking the poor and uneducated, and putting them in the spotlight of political debate,

something that would never happen without the EZLN. I think it reflects the diversity of
latin culture very well, as well as the ever present revolutionary spirit that exists
throughout the super-continent, however I also believe that the Zapatas are a
completely unique movement that has very unique ideals and one must be careful in
comparing them with other cultures and movements.

Yes, Marcos is gay. Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in
Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan
Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk
in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro at 10pm, a peasant
without land, a gang member in the slums, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student
and, of course, a Zapatista in the mountains... Marcos is all the exploited, marginalised,
oppressed minorities resisting and saying `Enough'. He is every minority who is now
beginning to speak and every majority that must shut up and listen. He is every
untolerated group searching for a way to speak. Everything that makes power and the
good consciences of those in power uncomfortable -- this is Marcos.

Subcomandante Marcos

Bibliography:
Romero, Ral. "A Brief History of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation." Roar Mag
1 Jan. 2014. Print.
Klein, Hilary. "On the Front Lines: Women in Chiapas." Off Our Backs 1 May 2000.
Print.Klein, Hilary. "On the Front Lines: Women in Chiapas." Off Our Backs 1 May 2000.
Print.
Almazan, M. A. "NAFTA And The Mesoamerican States System." The Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science (1997): 42-50. Print.
Gilbreth, C., and G. Otero. "Democratization In Mexico: The Zapatista Uprising And Civil
Society." Latin American Perspectives (2001): 7-29. Print.

Quotes from
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9267.Subcomandante_Marcos