Do the Zapatistas still control Chiapas?
Do the Zapatistas still control Chiapas?
Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (Spanish: Municipios Autónomos Rebeldes Zapatistas, MAREZ) are de facto autonomous territories controlled by the neo-Zapatista support bases in the Mexican state of Chiapas, founded following the Zapatista uprising which took place in 1994 and is part of the wider Chiapas …
What happened during the Zapatista uprising in 1994?
During the rebellion, a gathering of about 100,000 people in Mexico City protested against the attempted government suppression of the Zapatistas. Other protesters also engaged in marches, road blocks, sit-ins, and strikes even until the Indigenous Rights Bill became a law in 2001.
What is one reason you think so many trees were cut down in the Lacandon Jungle?
SYNOPSIS In 2007, the tropical forests of Marqués de Comillas, a municipality in Mexico’s Lacandon jungle, were disappearing rapidly. Poor farmers who had migrated to the region during the 1970s relied on clear-cutting the forest to open up land for agriculture, and they were cutting more and more trees every year.
What were the Zapatistas fighting for?
Their initial goal was to instigate a revolution against the rise of neoliberalism throughout Mexico, but since no such revolution occurred, they used their uprising as a platform to call attention to their movement to protest the signing of the NAFTA, which the EZLN believed would increase inequality in Chiapas.
Is Chiapas a jungle?
The Lacandon Jungle (Spanish: Selva Lacandona) is an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas, Mexico, into Honduras and into the southern part of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Why are they called Zapatistas?
The group takes its name from Emiliano Zapata, the agrarian revolutionary and commander of the Liberation Army of the South during the Mexican Revolution, and sees itself as his ideological heir. Nearly all EZLN villages contain murals with images of Zapata, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and Subcomandante Marcos.
What is the culture of Chiapas?
Chiapas represents a small portion of the region once inhabited by the Mayan Indians. For at least 2,000 years, the Mayan culture flourished throughout Mesoamerica. Skilled weavers and temple builders, they left behind a wealth of archaeological treasures for later generations to discover and admire.
Who was the leader of the Chiapas rebellion?
Twenty years ago, on the morning of January 1, 1994, the Chiapas Rebellion began in Mexico’s southernmost state led by a then unknown group, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and its mysterious spokesman subcomandante Marcos.
When did the Zapatista uprising start in Chiapas?
1994 Zapatista uprising. On 1 January 1994, the EZLN began their military insurrection in the southernmost province of Mexico, Chiapas, in the name of the rights of oppressed indigenous peoples and democracy; this was the same date on which the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect.
When did the Chiapas conflict start and end?
The Chiapas conflict (Spanish: Conflicto de Chiapas) refers to the 1994 Zapatista uprising, the 1995 Zapatista crisis and their aftermath, and tensions between the indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers in the Mexican state of Chiapas from the 1990s to the present day.
Where was the 25th anniversary of the Zapatistas?
Members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, EZLN, attend an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising in La Realidad, Chiapas, Mexico. (Eduardo Verdugo / AP)