|
On January 1, 1994, NAFTA was enacted, and in Chiapas, Mexico, a
group of indigenous Mayans joined the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de
Liberación Nacional).
These revolutionaries are the Zapatistas.
The group takes its name from Emiliano Zapata, hero of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. One result of this war was Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which provided for communal ownership of farmland. Farmers would work their own parts of the land and own what they produced, but nobody had the power to buy or sell it.
This arrangement worked well until 1992, it was repealed by President Salinas in a bid to bolster the economy by luring factories to Chiapas with the promise of cheap land and cheaper labor.
In an age of free trade, poor farmers could no longer compete with the prices of corporate Kansas corn; they lost both their market and their lifestyle because of this. As their land was gradually seized, the Zapatistas were forced into the mountains and jungles until they emerged seven years ago to try to reclaim their homes. Repelled by military and paramilitary groups, they continued armed conflict until the ceasefire of 1995. They still do not have justice.
www.ezln.org -- in spanish.
 |