Emiliano Zapata: Symbol of resistance in the Mexican peasant struggle (+Christmas)

On August 8, 1879, Emiliano Zapata, one of the most important military leaders during the Mexican Revolution and a symbol of peasant resistance in that country, was born in San Miguel Anenecuilco, state of Morelos, Mexico.

Who would also be known as the “Caudillo of the South” was the son of a peasant family, his parents being Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Salazar.

At the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, Zapata joined the Maderist forces, attracted by the agrarian demands of the San Luis Plan, for which he formed the Liberation Army of the South. But once that movement triumphed, the distribution of the land was not carried out, President Madero did not fulfill his promises of popular demand, and the landowners pushed for the peasant forces to be disarmed and betray Zapata, who reorganized his army and took Yautepec, Cuautla and Cuernavaca.

Zapata refused to lay down his arms until the distribution of land took effect and, together with his followers, he proclaimed the Ayala Plan, boldly defending his positions against the governments of Madero, Victoriano Huerta and Venustiano Carranza, for whom the Zapatistas became uncomfortable, since they distributed the land, confiscated the mills and put them to work for the benefit of the poorest population, founded an agricultural bank and opened numerous primary schools, even for adults. They reorganized the political life of the municipalities and promoted the traditional organization of the peasants.

On April 10, 1919, the victim of a prison prepared by Carranza's emissaries, Zapata was assassinated at the Chinameca ranch, with which the Zapatista movement was militarily defeated, although not its ideals of justice. Zapata was clearly aware of how difficult it was to face domination, and in a letter addressed to Pancho Villa, he had written that “the ignorance and obscurantism of the times have produced nothing but herds of slaves for tyranny”.

In Mexico it was known as “the Attila of the South”. For many, Zapata is the martyr of agrarianism, the symbol of social redemption in Mexico, a fighter who courageously and courageously defended land ownership. Land and Freedom was their motto, and even today a large part of Mexican society proclaims that land is for those who work it.

Mazo News Team