1. Zapatistas
Unit 7 Notes

2. Picture Analysis What exactly do you see in the photograph?
How are the people dressed?
What are they doing?
Imagine that you are in the picture. What would you hear? What would you smell?
Prediction: What happened right before this image?
Prediction: What happened right after this image?

3. Picture 1

4. Picture 2

5. Picture 3

6. Picture 4

7. Picture 5

8. Picture 6

9. Who are the Zapatistas?
a group of Mexicans who support improved rights & living conditions for Mexico’s indigenous people
Where does the name “Zapatista” come from?...

10. Emiliano Zapata 1880-1919 poor sharecropper of Mayan descent
hero in the Mexican revolution of
Fought for justice for the indigenous people of Mexico

11. The Zapatista movement began in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

12. Why Chiapas? It’s a resource-rich state in southern Mexico:
produces over half of Mexico’s hydroelectric power
2nd largest petroleum producing state
Largest coffee exporting state
So what’s the big deal there?

13. What’s the Big Deal? Chiapas has the worst rates of poverty in Mexico:
three-fourths of its people are malnourished, half live in dwellings with dirt floors
19% of the population has no income
39% earn less than minimum wage ($3/day)
Chiapas is a huge contributor to the global economy (water, oil, etc.), but is getting little in return.
huge division between rich & poor in the state

14. Zapatistas’ Concerns
Zapatistas want to eliminate the division between the social classes in Chiapas (wealthy vs. poor)
They argued that the indigenous people of Mexico needed more help to improve healthcare, housing education, & jobs.
They have tried to peacefully negotiate with Mexico’s government, but the agreements have not solved the peoples’ problems… .

15. Subcomandante Marcos
"The natural wealth that leaves these lands doesn't travel over just these three roads (leading to Chiapas). Chiapas is bled through thousands of veins: through oil ducts and gas ducts, over electric wires, by railroad cars, through bank accounts, by trucks and vans, by ships and planes...And what tribute does this land continue to pay to various empires? Oil, electric energy, cattle, money, bananas, honey, corn, cocoa, tobacco, sugar, soy...and Chiapan blood flows out through a thousand and one fangs sunk into the neck of southeastern Mexico."

16. What is Guerrilla Warfare?
sudden, unexpected acts carried about by groups that fight using “hit and run” tactics
Many terrorist groups employ guerrilla warfare.

17. NAFTA & the Zapatistas…
1994—North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect & allowed free trade between US, Canada, & Mexico
Some people in Mexico did not like this plan:
thought that NAFTA would allow cheap farm goods to come into Mexico from the US
thought NAFTA benefitted the wealthy and hurt the poor Native American farmers by lowering prices of crops like coffee and corn
farmers in Mexico would not be able to compete with the cheaper food

18. NAFTA & the Zapatistas…
On the day NAFTA took effect, the Zapatistas took over 7 towns in their part of Mexico (state of Chiapas).
The Mexican army was sent to remove the Zapatistas.
fighting lasted for several weeks, & a cease-fire eventually ended the fighting
Zapatistas did not go away

19. Armed Takeover in Chiapas 01/01/94

20. Latest Developments
Seven years after the 1st revolt, on March 11, 2001, the Zapatistas marched to Mexico City and addressed Congress.
They encouraged the passage of an Indigenous Rights Bill.
Unfortunately, the bill was unsuccessful due to Congress radically changing it and denying indigenous people certain rights.

21. Latest Developments
January 2003: Rose up again armed with machetes denouncing neoliberalism (free trade policies), ecotourism, foreign investment and plans for war with Iraq
have aggressively detained several foreigners in an effort to deter foreign investment