Zapatista Uprising

On 1 January 1994 the Zapatista Army of National Liberation rose in Chiapas, Mexico, demanding Indigenous rights and land as NAFTA took effect.

Overview

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, made up largely of Indigenous Maya peasants, seized several towns in Chiapas on the day the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force. Taking their name from Emiliano Zapata, they demanded land, democracy, and Indigenous autonomy. The Mexican army counterattacked, and around twelve days of fighting left more than a hundred dead before a ceasefire. The spokesman Subcomandante Marcos used communiques and the internet to win worldwide attention. The San Andres Accords on Indigenous rights were signed in 1996 but not fully implemented. The Zapatistas went on to build autonomous self governing communities in Chiapas.