In order to fully comprehend the nature of the Zapatista Uprising, it is necessary to discuss the historical, political and socioeconomic dynamics of Chiapas. Chiapas is one of Mexico’s most affluent states. It generates 35% of the nation’s electrical supply, and is a major centre for oil and gas extraction. In 2004, Chiapas became the lead state in agriculture with the largest yields of sherry coffee, mango, papaya and plantain. Paradoxically, it is Mexico’s most destitute polity. 90% of its municipalities endure extreme economic isolation; impeding adequate conditions for housing, education, employment and medical services. It is thus not surprising that up to 1994, 60% of schoolchildren were barred from attending school whilst the state’s illiteracy rate was 30%. Furthermore, racial discrimination is prevalent. 40% of Chiapas’ approximately 4.3 million inhabitants are comprised of indigenous people, primarily Mayans. Although they have been able to preserve their cultural identity, unlike indigenous communities in other regions of Mexico, they still suffer socioeconomic and political marginalisation from the Latifundias. The word ‘latifundia’ signifies a large amount of land owned by of a small elite cohort of landowners of European and Mestizo ancestry. A legacy from the Spanish colonial époque, they control the majority of farmland and natural resources of the state. They reap the benefits of Chiapas’ wealth at the expense of the indigenous population whom they exploit as cheap labour in miserable conditions. The indigenous population of Chiapas is trapped in a vicious poverty cycle. In fact, in municipalities that are at least 70% indigenous, over 80% of them are poor.
Their plight is further enforced by the Mexican state. Until the 1980s, the protection of indigenous communal land or ‘ejido’ was guaranteed by Article 27 of the 1917 constitution. This was revoked by the economic liberalisation of Mexico’s closed economy by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s government. It was done to counterbalance Mexico’s nationwide 1982 debt crisis which threatened to destroy the economy. Consequently, many indigenous persons in Chiapas and in other Mexican states were dispossessed by latifundias and other politically powerful groups with vested interests. Other indigenous groups who still retained maize farms were also evicted when their yields became unprofitable, due to cheaper American commodities flooding the Mexican market. This was a result of trade barriers in the domestic economy being completely disintegrated by the implementation of NAFTA in 1992.
Surprisingly, the EZLN, which was founded in 1982, kept a low profile for over a decade until the early 1990s, until indigenous unrest prompted interest and support for the group. Thousands filled EZLN’s ranks as soldiers. The dreaded aftermath of NAFTA was the catalyst for them to take up arms under the EZLN guise. They started a guerrilla war in which they annexed four cities including San Cristobal, covering about a quarter of Chiapas territory. Fearing that the rebellion could spread to other parts of the nation and fragment it, the government carried out a massive military counterattack against the insurgents. Facing certain defeat, EZLN agreed to a peace accord in 1996.
Since then, EZLN have pacified their armed struggle against the State. They formed a parallel organisation named FZLN (Zapatista Front for National Liberation); which aims to promoted indigenous rights peacefully by negotiating with the government for securing the human rights of the indigenous people. However, they still protect the municipalities under their control with armed guerrillas. To date, successive governments, including the current one led by President Felipe Calderon, have stayed out of the way of EZLN. But there are allegations that the Latifundias fund mercenaries to intimidate and subjugate the indigenous peasantry by conducting sporadic massacres in their villages. This only further legitimizes the local indigenous advocacy for EZLN.
Chiapas may be enjoying political stability for the time being. Yet this exists within an uneasy truce between the State and EZLN. It would seem that once the EZLN and the Zapatista Uprising is off the world’s radar screen, the government might resort to military force to quell the insurgency once for all in the future. Yet as long as the rural poor remain dispossessed of their basic human rights, violence will always play an important role in Chiapas.
Editor's Note: For a look at a similar conflict, have a look at Joe Stout's article about the popular indigenous uprisings in Oaxaca
Posted on July 8, 2010
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