Emiliano Zapata Salazar (August 8, 1879–April 10, 1919) was a leading figure in
the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and
which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded
an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South.
Early life and local politics
Emiliano Zapata (right) and his brother Eufemio Zapata
Zapata was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Salazar in the small central state of Morelos, in the village of Anenecuilco (modern-day Ayala municipality). He was the ninth out of
ten children. He had to care for his family because his father died when Zapata was 17. He was of mestizo ancestry. At that time,
Mexico was ruled by a dictatorship under Porfirio Díaz, who had seized power in 1876.
The social system of the time was a sort of proto-capitalist feudal system, with large landed estates (haciendas) controlling more and more of the land and squeezing out the independent communities of Native
Americans and mestizos, who were then subsequently forced into debt slavery (peonaje) on the haciendas. Díaz ran local elections to pacify the people and run a government that they
could argue was self-imposed. Under Díaz, close confidantes and associates were given offices in districts throughout Mexico.
These offices became the enforcers of "land reforms" that actually concentrated the
haciendas into fewer hands.
Zapata's family, although not wealthy, still retained its independence. Like most of the families in Anenecuilco, they were
always in danger of poverty, although avoiding peonage and maintaining their own land
(rancho). In fact, the family had in previous generations been porfirista, that is, supporters of Díaz. Zapata
himself always had a reputation for being a fancy dresser, appearing at bullfights and
rodeos in his elaborate charro (cowboy) costume. Though
his flashiness would usually have associated him with the rich hacendados who controlled the lands, he seems to have
retained the admiration and even adoration of the people of his village, Anenecuilco, so that by the time he was 30, he was the
head of the defense committee of the village, a post which made him the spokesman for the village's interests. He was directly
elected to this position during the autumn of 1909, just a year before the start of the
revolution.
Zapata became a leading figure in the village of Anenecuilco, where his family had lived for many generations, and he became
involved in struggles for the rights of the campesinos of Morelos. He was able to oversee the redistribution of the land
from some haciendas peacefully, but had problems with others. He observed numerous conflicts between villagers and
hacendados over the constant theft of village land, and in one instance, saw the hacendados torch an entire
village.
For many years, he campaigned steadfastly for the rights of the villagers, first establishing via ancient title deeds their claims to disputed land, and then pressing the recalcitrant governor of Morelos into
action. Finally, disgusted with the slow response from the government and the overt bias towards the wealthy plantation owners,
Zapata began making use of armed force, simply taking over the land in dispute.
The 1910 Revolution
At this time, Porfirio Díaz was being threatened by the candidacy of Francisco I. Madero. Zapata made quiet alliances with Madero, whom he perceived to be the best
chance for genuine change in the country of Mexico.
In 1910, unrest finally broke out in the formation of guerrilla bands. Zapata
quickly took an important role, becoming the general of an army that formed in Morelos –
the Ejército Libertador del Sur (Liberation Army of the South).
A graphical timeline is available here:
Timeline of the Mexican Revolution
Zapata joined Madero’s campaign against President Diaz. With the support of
Pancho Villa, Pascual Orozco, Emiliano Zapata, and
rebellious peasants, Madero overthrew Díaz in May of 1911 in the battle at Ciudad Juarez. A
provisional government was formed under Francisco Leon de la Barra. Under
Madero, some new land reforms were carried out and elections were to be ensured. However, Zapata was dissatisfied with Madero's
stance on land reform, and was unable, despite repeated efforts, to make him understand the importance of the issue or to get him
to act on it. Madero and Zapata's relations worsened during the summer of 1911 as Madero appointed
a governor who supported plantation owners and refused to meet Zapata’s agrarian goals. Compromises between the two failed in
November 1911, days after Madero appointed himself President, and Zapata and Montaño fled to the
mountains of southwest Puebla. There they formed the most radical reform plan in Mexico; the
Plan de Ayala.
Zapata was partly influenced by an anarchist from Oaxaca
named Ricardo Flores Magón. The influence of Flores Magón on Zapata can be seen in
the Zapatistas' Plan de Ayala, but even more noticeably in their slogan "Tierra y
libertad" or "land and liberty", the title and maxim of Flores Magón's most famous work. Zapata's introduction to anarchism
came via a local schoolteacher, Otilio Montaño Sánchez – later a general in Zapata's army,
executed on 17 May 1917 – who exposed Zapata to the works of
Peter Kropotkin and Flores Magón at the same time as Zapata was observing and beginning
to participate in the struggles of the peasants for the land.
The plan proclaimed the Zapatista demands for “land, liberty, and justice”. Zapata also declared the Zapatistas as a
counter-revolution and denounced Madero. Zapata mobilized his Liberation
Army and allied with former Maderistas Pascual Orozco and Emiliano Vazquez Gomez.
Orozco was from Chihuahua, near the U.S. border, and thus was able to aid the Zapatistas with
a supply of arms.
Madero, alarmed, asked Zapata to disarm and demobilize. Zapata responded that, if the people could not win their rights now,
when they were armed, they would have no chance once they were unarmed and helpless. Madero sent several generals in an attempt
to deal with Zapata, but these efforts had little success.
Revolution against Huerta and Carranza
General Emiliano Zapata in
Cuernavaca (April 1911)
Madero was soon overthrown by Victoriano Huerta, a former porfirista
general, who granted amnesty to Díaz and suppressed resistance to land reforms. General Huerta murdered Madero in February of
1913. In May, Huerta closed the House of the World Worker, which was largely made up of
intellectual radicals including Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama. The peasant reaction to this increased the size of Zapata's forces
considerably, and also gave rise to a new group in the north: the Villistas under
Pancho Villa. The Villistas were mainly composed of Madero supporters. Zapata at first was
hesitant to meet with Villa, after Villa vehemently rejected the Plan de Ayala when a Zapatista introduced him to the concept in
prison.
Opposition to Huerta coalesced under Venustiano Carranza, who led a
Constitutionalist faction with which both Villa and Zapata eventually allied. These forces proved too much for Huerta and he was
quickly deposed. Following his defeat, the Constitutionalists set up a convention to decide the form of the new government.
Zapata refused to attend the convention, pointing out that none of the attendees had been elected. Instead, the chiefs in Morelos
sent a delegation to present the Plan de Ayala for consideration and observe the convention.
Soon thereafter Carranza had himself made head of the government, which sparked further outrage. Initially, Carranza commanded
the loyalty of Álvaro Obregón, who suppressed the Villista guerrillas. The Zapatistas,
however, remained mobilised, but grew increasingly fractured after many long years of campaigning, in which Gen. Pablo Gonzalez, appointed by Carranza in 1916 to recover the State of Morelos from Zapata's control,
hanged many peasants and destroyed property all over the state, with no effect since Zapata's forces continued to fight, even
recovering the city of Cuernavaca by mid-1917.
The Carranza regime ultimately put a bounty on Zapata's head, expecting disenfranchised Zapatistas to betray him. It also
attempted to entice away the other chiefs in the Zapatista army; neither action proved successful.
Death
Although government forces could never completely defeat Zapata in battle, he fell victim to a carefully staged ambush by Gen.
Pablo Gonzalez and his lieutenant, Col. Jesús Guajardo.
Guajardo proposed Gonzalez feign a defection to Zapata's forces. Gonzalez agreed, and to make the defection appear sincere, he
arranged for Guajardo to attack a Federal column, killing 57 soldiers. Zapata subsequently agreed to receive a messenger from
Guajardo, to arrange a meeting to speak about Guajardo's defection.
On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a
meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan,
in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled
him with bullets. They then took his body to Cuautla to claim the bounty, where they
are reputed to have been given only half of what was promised.
Following Zapata's death, the Liberation Army of the South slowly fell apart, although Zapata's heir apparent Gildardo Magaña and many other Zapata adherents
went on to political careers as representatives of Zapatista causes and positions in the Mexican army and government. Some of his
former generals like Genovevo de la O allied with Obregón while others eventually
disappeared after Carranza was deposed.
Legacy
Zapata's influence, however, lasts to this day, particularly in revolutionary tendencies in south Mexico. Most notably, a
revolutionary movement of indigenous peoples that emerged in the state of Chiapas in
1994 gave themselves the name Zapatista
Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional or EZLN in Spanish) in honor of Zapata and are colloquially known as "the Zapatistas".
In the folklore of the people of Morelos, there is a widespread belief that Zapata did not die, that the corpse was that of a
friend posing as Zapata, and that Zapata fled to some foreign land where he later died of old age.
Modern activists in Mexico frequently make reference to Zapata in their campaigns, his image is commonly seen on banners and
many chants invoke his name- Si Zapata viviera con nosotros andaría, "If Zapata lived, he would walk with us." Zapata
vive, la lucha sigue, "Zapata lives; the struggle continues."
Zapata is considered to be one of the outstanding national heroes of Mexico; many Mexican
popular organizations, including the Zapatistas, a current revolutionary movement based in the state of Chiapas, take their name from him. Towns, streets, and housing developments called "Emiliano Zapata" are common
across the country and he has, at times, been depicted on Mexican banknotes. There are
controversies on the portrayal of Emiliano Zapata and his followers, on whether they were bandits or revolutionaries. But in
modern times Zapata is one of the most revered national heroes of Mexico. Conservative media nicknamed Zapata ‘The
Attila of the South’. To many Mexicans, specifically the peasant and indigenous citizens,
Zapata was a practical revolutionary who sought the implementation of liberties and agrarian rights outlined in the
Plan of Ayala. He was a realist with the goal of achieving political and economic
emancipation of the peasants in southern Mexico, and leading them out of severe poverty.
Zapata has in the last few decades been recast as a quasi-religious icon as well, mostly within indigenous or Zapatista
communities, where he is called "Votán Zapata." Votán (Wotán in modern Mayan
spelling) is a Mayan god, who with his twin brother Ik'al was said to have descended from the mountains to teach the people to
defend themselves. A part of Our Word is Our Weapon by Subcomandante Marcos of the EZLN is
dedicated to Votán Zapata. j
In popular culture
-
Zapata has been depicted in and referred to numerous times in popular culture, such as comics, books, music, movies and more.
Most notably he was played by Marlon Brando, in the 1952 American adaptation of the hero,
in the film Viva Zapata. Most recently his story was told in the Spanish and Nahuatl
languages in Alfonso Arau's movie titled Zapata: The Dream of a Hero
(2004), starring Alejandro Fernández. There is also a film genre named after him,
Zapata Western. Numerous towns, locations, and schools are named for Zapata. Also, many
boys are given the name "Emiliano" in his honor.
Aliases
- "El Tigre del Sur"- Tiger of the South
- "El Tigre"- The Tiger
- "El Tigrillo"- Little Tiger
- "El Caudillo del Sur"- Caudillo of the South
- "El Atila del Sur"- The Atilla of the South
Quotes
- Los que no tengan miedo que pasen a firmar, (Translation: Those who have no fear should step forward to sign this)
said when calling on people to sign the Plan de Ayala.
- ¡Tierra y Libertad! (Translation: Land and Liberty)
- Ignorance and obscurantism have never produced anything other than flocks of slaves for tyranny. (A letter to Pancho
Villa)
- The quote Es mejor morir a pie que vivir arrodillado (Translation: It is better to die on your feet than to live on
your knees.),while popularly attributed to Zapata, is actually from Cuban revolutionary José
Martí. Zapatistas did use this slogan, but it did not originate with Zapata.
Sources
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/spanish/seriemilenio01.htm
- Villa and Zapata by Frank Mclynn
- Fernando Horcasitas, De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata, memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta,. UNAM, México DF.,1968 (eye and ear-witness
account of Zapata speaking Nahuatl)
- John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (NY: Vintage), 1970
- Enrique Krauze, Zapata: El amor a la tierra, in the Biographies of Power series.
External links
See also
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