Who is Emilio Zapata?

Answer 1

Emilio Zapata was a Mexican revolutionary leader and champion of land reform, who was a key figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910/11. He joined Francisco Madero's armed struggle to overthrow the dictatorial President Porfero Diaz, leading a peasant army of landless farmworkers who were known as the 'Zapatistas'. Diaz fell from power in May 1911, and at first , Zapata supported the new government of Francisco La Barra, for whom Madero became Interior Minister. However, Zapata & Madero later fell out over the issue of land reform- Zapata felt that the reforms were too slow and didn't go far enough to give land to the poorest of the peasantry. Eventually, he fled to the Puebla Mountains in Southwest Mexico with fellow revolutionary Montano, where they oversaw the recruitment and training of a counter-revolutionary militia known as the Liberation Army. The Liberation Army joined forces with other rebel guerrilla forces to mobilize in an attempted counter-revolutionary uprising in 1919- during this, Zapata was tricked into an ambush and assassinated by Government troops led by General Pablo Gonzalez and his Lieutenant, Jesus Guajardo. He was just 39 years old. Although the Liberation Army disintegrated after Zapata's death, the rebel movements did win some land reform concessions from the Government afterwards, and went on to secure greater representation for the poorest Mexican people in Government.