Call to arms, upheaval, uprising, rebellion, insurrection, change;Whatever you call it all refers to the same idea, one word that shook worlds, toppled governments, and changed the lives of people forever: Revolution.
The Zapatistas, sure their names sound familiar, but who are they? What do they stand for in this crazy world of ours? The first true revolution in the post-modern world, brews in the green heartland of Chiapas Mexico, organized by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation or EZLN and its spokesman undoubtedly being the charismatic and iconic Subcommadante Marcos.

The Zapatistas are not all about that famous revolutionary and his pipe. Its roots run deeper; much deeper. Lets take a step back to an earlier date. In 1910 during the heat of the Mexican Revolution with Emiliano Zapata and his band of the landless peasant riding against the current government calling for land, liberty, and justice. The Zapatistas, as Zapata’s followers were called still seem to live on in the heart of the EZLN, they feel they are the “ideological heirs” to Zapata.            

Why do they want to go against the old system? The answer simply lies in Chiapas. This area in the south of Mexico holds vast green forests and the homes of indigenous people of mostly Mayan descent. Usually in Mexican society and government, the indiginenous population is looked down upon. Since the enforcement of the constitution of 1917, they have felt disenfranchised from any benefits that the government had to offer. Since the time of the ejidos, the indigenous wanted to own their land. But with the crisis’s of 1982, the issues of land redistribution and organization were clearly pushed aside for more important matters. This left the indigenous population in a situation of continual desperation, which would worsen with the later signing of NAFTA. It was from this state of uncertainty that the EZLN grew out of from FLN guerillas and the indigenous of eastern Chiapas in November 17, 1983. Their structure consist of a 23 commander and one sub-commander Revolutionary Indigenous Clandestine Committee which makes up the collective leadership of the Zapatistas. The Zapatistas control nearly a quarter of Chiapas and use Councils of Good Government which organize and somewhat legislate these areas of influence, by using a system of representation made up of the people who are rotated in 2 week terms which in a sense gives every person in the village direct representation. They finally when public in January 1, 1994 at the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA between Canada, US, and Mexico.

In Article 27 section VII of the Mexican constitution guarantees land reparations to the indigenous but with the signing of NAFTA, these provisions became null and void. Gortari, the president at the time felt that with opening trade, Meixco’s economy would benefit greatly. This “benefit” came at the expense of the indigenous population who were now no longer guaranteed their land holdings.

The Zapatistas stand for the indigenous, anti-globalization, and anti-neoliberalism, feeling that treaties such as NAFTA hurt the small indigenous farmers who can’t compete with mechanized corporate farms and end up losing their land. A mesh of Marxism and anarchism makes up the crux of their ideological belief system but they don’t hold strong to any one ideology. Their idea of a complete overhaul of the government’s system would be one that would do politics from the bottom up rather than the other way.

To address the Zapatista movement would be incomplete without mention of one of their most notable commanders. What would the Zapatistas be without Marcos? Little is known about Marcos except rumors that surround the mysterious revolutionary. Allegedly Mexican officals consider his true identity to be that of one Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente of Tampico the son of Spanish immigrants, educated in early on about Liberation Theology in Jesuit school then going to obtain a philosophy degree at the University of Mexico. The Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968 where the police and military shot student demonstrators became a defining factor in his life. This event took his political ideologies for a turn towards the left becoming a militant in a Maoist organization and finally emerging as one of the most influential figures of the Zapatista movement.

As said by Marcos himself, life in Chiapas for an “outsider” was difficult at first.
“Imagine a person who comes from an urban culture. One of the world’s biggest cities, with a university education, accustomed to city life. It’s like landing on another planet. The language, the surroundings are new. You’re seen as an alien from outer space. Everything tells you: “Leave. This is a mistake. You don’t belong in this place.” And it’s said in a foreign tongue. But they let you know, the people, the way they act; the weather, the way it rains; the sunshine; the earth, the way it turns to mud; the diseases; the insects; homesickness. You’re being told. “You don’t belong here.” If that’s not a nightmare, what is?” (A Place Called Chiapas)

             Subcommadante Marcos’s defining moment being the 1996 cease fire talks with the Mexican government under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari after the Zapatista’s first armed insurrection, a march towards Mexico City beginning in January of 1994 and finally ending in defeat in February of 1995 with a surprise raid of Zapatista strongholds by the Mexican Army. The San Andreas Accords were signed in 1996 guaranteeing autonomy of the indigenous and other special rights. This seemed like a victory in the eyes of the people until President Zedillo sent more troops to Chiapas put a hold on the spreading influence of the Zapatistas. The military presence proved to be more than negative. Rumors of abuse committed by the Army including the killing of Zapatistas and their supporters started spreading. And the paramilitary group ironically called peace and justice began committing heinous crimes against the population and sent death threats to anyone they deemed to be a sympathizer.

All the while the Zapatistas dawned a policy, being sworn to not lift their gun in aggression. In the mean time they started a new campaign, one that the used the most powerful weapon of all, the Internet. Communiqués and news of the movements actions started to spread as they started the revolution again but this time in through one of the most massive information portals in the world. Their support base increased drastically spanning from the United States and North America to Europe. This rag-tag team of ski mask clad, red bandana dawning fighters soon took their place in world politics. In this new era the Zapatistas, as they pursue a new route of non-violence through the Other Campaign, in which they promote the reform to the constitution by adding clauses that address the prohibiting the privatization of land and giving autonomy to the populations of indigenous in Mexico. Even Subcommadante Marcos was on the move promoting the word of the Zapatistas in various cities around Mexico in his January 2006 tour under the assumed name Delegate Zero.

             The Zapatistas continue to oppose the government and its policies against the indigenous and its treatment of the indigenous population as written by Subcommadante Marcos in his current communiqués. Also, the Zapatistas have tried to incorporate women in politics and in their own personal leadership as seen with the famous Subcommadante Ramona. Both these goals are radical in their very fabric as most Latin American countries traditionally excluded the indigenous population let alone women from government and professional positions. Trying to co-op both groups and successfully accomplishing it is quite a remarkable feat for any revolutionary group.

But will the Zapatistas ever reach the goals the set out to accomplish? As said by Subcommadante Marcos:

“…We will resist. Even though we suffer in resisting, even though they attack us, even though they imprison us, even though they kill us, even though they tell lies about us, we will not permit the governments actions that cause death, misery, neglect, and fear. And if we do this, its not just for you. We do this for the millions of Mexican men and women who are poor like us. They deserve that the nation’s wealth benefit them and not the government and its gang of thieves.” (Marcos)

And thus, the legendary fighters of Chiapas live on to continue their fight against a government that has disfranchised its people.

 Castro’s interest in politics started early as he grew intensely more nationalistic, feeling that the United States interference in Cuban affairs was less than helpful. First joining the Partido Ortodoxo headed by Chibas in his college days. The ortodoxo’s were bend on exposing  corruption demanding the reform in the Cuban govenment. Castro the student left to Colombia to attend a Latin American Student conference. It was around April 9th 1948 when the infamous assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in Bogota took place and the era of La Violencia shook Colombia as armed insurrection spread and the students took up arms spreading the flames of revolt by passing out pamphlets.

Back in Cuba, Fidel gained his Doctor of Law degree (equivalent of a J.D.) in 1950. His political career gained momentum as he ran for a seat in parliament, but then things took a turn for the worst as General Fulgencio Batista’s 1952 coup placed Batista as de facto leader. Castro seeing this as a clear violation of the constitution of 1940, soon found the groundwork for his revolution.
 Fidel gathered the means and support necessary for his first move against the Batista regime, the famous 26th of July 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, the largest military barracks outside of Santiago de Cuba. Though the attack proved unsuccessful as many of his followers died in the fight leading Castro, Raul, and a few others to retreat to the Sierra Maestra mountains where they were later captured and sentenced to fifteen years in prison where he gave his famous “History will Absolve Me” speech. After two years in prison in Isla de Pinos he left for Mexico were he reorganized and regrouped his men now under the name of the 26th of July Movement, named after the disastrous first attempt to overthrow Batista.

Once in Mexico Castro met with Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the dashing spokesman for guerilla warfare, who join Castro’s eight-odd men in their continual goal of overthroughing Bastista. Thus, Castro set off on his yacht named Granma to land on the shores of Cuba. While all but twenty of the original men of the 26th of July Movement survived their first bout with Batista, Castro and the remaining retreated to the Sierra Maestra Mountains to once again regroup and continue their guerilla war. Castro’s movement gained popular support and soon many of the resistance groups around Cuba joined the 26th of July Movement, most notably the Santiago group formed by Frank Pais. As the battles waged on, Castro declared the Manifesto of Sierra Maestra in which he guaranteed the restoration of the Constitution of 1940 and elections to be held in 18 month after regaining the government from the Batista regime.

 Fidel Castro successfully gained control of Cuba in January 8, 1959 and called for an end of the junta created by Batista and became the head of the military. Soon he gained the position of Prime Minister in February and started expropriating the property owned by foreign companies, mostly the US’s and compensating them with the low values the corporations gave their land in order to cheat the tax system.
 This clearly didn’t fare well with the United States as the United Fruit Company (remember Guatemala?) suffered major losses. As Castro came to the United States to seek a meeting with Eisenhower in April of 1959, he was promptly denied and thus his sights turned to the Soviet Union.
The relationship between Cuba and the United States became strained as Castro pass his first Agrarian Land Reform in April of 1959 which forbid foreign ownership of land. The Cuban-Soviet ties grew closer as the US relations grew tense. As Castro imported goods like oil from the USSR, US owned refineries in Cuba refused to process the material and Castro responded promptly by expropriating the land. Eisenhower reduced the amount of sugar imports from Cuba to only 7,000,000 tons and thus Castro countered that with another round of land nationalization of over 800 million dollars worth of US businesses and property in Cuba in 1960. In January 1961 the US and Cuba officially cut ties and the infamous embargo was placed in 1962.

After failure of US-Cuban relations, numerous attempts were made to overthrow or more accurately assassinate Castro. Most notable the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961, the unsuccessful attempts at training and sending in the rich Cuban exiles of Florida to overthrow the regime, but with lack of experience and US military support the attempt was both an embarrassment and failure in the Kennedy era. Plus CIA backing of gangsters, conspirators, assassins, an ex-lover, a few shady fellows from Las Vegas, some choice cigars from Langley, and an unhygentic diving suit sent the number of attempts on Castro’s life to about 638. Its no wonder that the USSR called for the US to quit trying to kill Castro. (Cuban Missle Crisis anyone?)
With all of these attempts, all these leaders of the world coming and going, with superpowers falling and others rising, Fidel Castro remained when others left. Now as his brother Raul assumes the Presidency, it seems that life without Castro as the president of Cuba will defiantly be different. After all, he out survived everyman who tried to kill him, politically that is.