Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata was born on August 8, 1879 in Anenecuilo, Mexico, the son of a local businessman. He was not himself a tenant farmer, but was raised amoung them in the predominantly agrarian Morelos district, where the primitive living conditions convinced him of the need for sweeping reforms. He became the peasants' spokesman in the area and was briefly drafted into the Mexican army as punishment for his radical statements on their behalf. In the early 1900s, as public pressure grew against the dictatorial regime of President Porfirio Díaz, Zapata started organizing a revolutionary army in Morelos. He proved to be a natural tactician as well as an inspiring leader. When a revolt against Diaz, headed by Francisco I. Madero, broke out in March 1911, Zapata was appointed Supremo (Supreme Chief) of the Revolutionary Movement of the South. By the end of May, Zapata's forces had defeated Diaz's troops in Yautepec, Cuautla and Cuernavaca, in southern Mexico, events that played a key role in Madero's subsequent victory and appointment as president of Mexico. When Madero was overthrown and assassinated by Gen. Victoriano Huerta in 1913, Zapata entered into a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the Huerta regime, which was even more repressive than Diaz's. By July 1914 Zapata's forces had fought their way to the outskirts of Mexico City, forcing Huerta to flee into exile. Four months later, when the revolutionaries' victory was complete, Zapata entered Mexico City in triumph with fellow commanders Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza, and the three established a provisional government. However, the following spring Zapata, like Villa before him, was ousted from the new government by Carranza and his followers. Once again Zapata entered into a protracted guerrilla war against the government. After a four-year stalemate and infrequent clashes with federal troops, the government finallly persuaded Zapata to attend a peace conference aimed at ending the insurrection, and the conference took place in Chinameca on April 10, 1919. However, when Zapata arrived he was immediately surrounded and shot and killed by government troops; the "conference" was a ploy by Carranza to lure Zapata to a place where he could be assassinated. Zapata's reforms were eventually instituted, though, albeit years after his death. He is regarded to this day by most Mexicans as a martyr to the Mexican revolution.