National Liberation Front). With the goal of disrupting the state and creating a space for the "democratization of
in January 1994. Though the signing of NAFTA is generally agreed to be the most direct catalyst for the rebellion, additional significant factors include a combination of ecological
, lack of available productive land, the drying up of nonagricultural sources of income,
the political and
religious reorganization of
indigenous communities since the 1960s, and the re-articulation of ethnic identities with emancipatory political discourses.
The
EZLN (Ejército
Zapatista de Liberación Nacional) is a libertarian socialist political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in
Chiapas, the southernmost state of
Mexico. In recent years, the
EZLN has focused on a strategy of civil
resistance. The
Zapatistas' main body is made up of mostly
indigenous people. Subcomandante Marcos was the most prominent and frequently identified member of the
EZLN leadership. The
EZLN takes its name from
Emiliano Zapata, the agrarian
revolutionary and commander of the Liberation Army of the South during the Mexican
Revolution, and sees itself as his ideological heir. Nearly all
EZLN villages contain murals with images of Zapata and Subcomandante Marcos.
While
EZLN ideology is similar to libertarian
socialism, the
Zapatistas have rejected and defied political classification. The
EZLN aligns itself with the wider alter-
globalization, anti-neoliberal social movement, seeking
indigenous control over local resources, especially land. Since their 1994 uprising was countered by the Mexican Armed Forces, the
EZLN has abstained from military offensives and adopted a new strategy that attempts to garner Mexican and international support.
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