Ourgrations

Chiapas: A Brief History

Chiapas is Mexico's southernmost state, lying on the border of Guatemala. Its capital is Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Chiapas has an area of 28,528 square miles. A report in 2003 estimated the population of Chiapas was 4,224,800 people (Wikpedia, 2006, para.2). Chiapas generally has humid, tropical weather, which supplies moisture for diverse vegetation and rainforests, but this vegetation has been destroyed almost completely for agriculture and ranching (Wikpedia , 2006, para.3). Historically, Chiapas has been a poor and underdeveloped region. The economy has long been based on agriculture, and more than half the economically active population is employed in agriculture, fishing, and forestry (Encarta 2005, Chiapas, para.3). As a state, Chiapas exports agricultural goods such as coffee, chocolate, cotton, fish, and bananas (Wikpedia , 2006, para.3). However, much of the farming done by the people is just enough for themselves and their families to live. Much of the farming is done on small plots of land, which were guaranteed to indigenous people as a result of the Mexican Constitution created in 1917. In 1992, the article that guarantees the land to indigenous people was altered, making the lands accessable to corporations (Shapiro, para. 19).

A Very Brief History of Mexico

To fully try to fully understand the Zapatista uprising, it is also necessary to understand some about the history of Mexico leading up to the time of the rebellion. At the time of the Mexican Revolution, Porfirio Díaz was the president of Mexico. Díaz did many things in order to attract foreign investment, and negotiated a debt consolidation plan that opened up Mexico to foreign trading. Díaz also opened Mexico for its mineral and agricultural products and brought new land under cultivation and laid the foundation for industrial development. However, during the presidency of Díaz, loss of communal holdings made it hard for native people to produce enough to subsist. Rich land owners could increase their properties by taking communal lands that belonged to indigenous people. By 1910 some 90 percent of the rural inhabitants of central Mexico were landless ( Encarta 2005, Mexico, section L, para.1-2). As a result of negative changes that took place during Díaz's presidency, an attitude of revolt increased throughout Mexico. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910. Díaz resigned on May 25, 1911, and Francisco Indalécio Madero became president. Madero worked toward political reform, not revolution. This became the uprising of Emiliano Zapata. Madero adopted a cautious policy on land reform, and Zapata revolted in November 1911. Zapata demanded that there be an immediate transfer of land to peasant farmers and insisted on the right of Mexican citizens to choose their own leaders (Encarta 2005, Mexico, section M, para.1). In 1917, after nearly six years of war, a constitutional convention met in Querétaro to draft a new constitution. Among other things, the constitution stated that all subsoil minerals, including petroleum and silver, belonged to the people of Mexico (Encarta 2005, Mexico, section N, para.1-2), and included an article (Article 27) that legally guaranteed indigenous people a section of farm land.

A Little About NAFTA

On January 1, 1994, The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed. The NAFTA called for the gradual removal of tariffs on most goods produced and sold in North America. The reduced traiffs on imported and exported goods would hopefully spur trade between the North American countries. NAFTA originated from a 1989 agreement between the United States and Canada that reduced tariffs. NAFTA was signed in December of 1992 by leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and in 1993 the legisaltures of all three countries approved NAFTA (Encarta 2005, North American Free trade Agreeement, para.1-3).

The Zapatistas

In order to understand what occurred in Chiapas, it is necessary to understand some about the Zapatistas. The earliest roots of the Zapatista uprising can be traced to the first camp of the Emiliano Zapata Guerrilla Nucleus in 1983, when it was just a group of six men and women (Shapiro, para. 11). The ultimate goal of this group was to take power through armed force. This group's belief in revolution was the foundation for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (also known by the Spanish acronym EZLN), best known as the Zapatistas. By 1986, Zapatista numbers had increased to 40, and as the communities started to mold the Zapatista, vision membership grew to hundreds and then thousands ( Shapiro, para. 12). The Zapatista communities were obligated to defend, live, and govern themselves collectively. Zapatista numbers continued to increase, and the communities took complete control of military preparations, and many of the communities turned into political units. Changes in the communities kept taking place, and by 1988, the original concept of a militaristic leadership was transformed into communal control. In Chiapas, there are currently 32 zapatista communities controlled by the EZLN (Wikpedia, 2006, para.7). In January 1994, the same month that NAFTA was passed, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (known by the Spanish acronym EZLN) raised up against local and national authorities. The Zapatistas were not mildly opposed, but rather "declared the passage of NAFTA a 'death sentence' and after years of preparation, on January 1, 1994, the day that NAFTA was to take effect, rose up in armed rebellion."( Shapiro, para. 21). The group, led by a man identified as Subcomandante Marcos, demanded numerous reforms, especially involving property rights and independence for native communities.

Why So Upset?

Why were the Zapatistas so against NAFTA? When the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1992, Mexican President, Carlos Salinas, reformed Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution (Shapiro, para. 19). Article 27 had guaranteed native people a plot of farm land. The revision of Article 27 enabled multinational corporations to access the once legally protected lots of the native people. This meant that corporations could purchase land that had been kept for use by communal farmers. Corporations could then use this property to produce and export "cash crops." This would be accomplished because the cash crops would replace locally grown goods with U.S. imports. With the production and export of cheap goods, local farmers could not compete and had to leave their land to work in the city (Shapiro, para. 20).

References

Camp, Roderic. (2005). Chiapas. In Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005.

Camp, Roderic, and MacLachlan, Colin. (2005). Mexico. In Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005.

Chiapas. (2006). In Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 7, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiapas

Shapiro, Milt. Anatomy of a Zapatista Rebellion. Retrieved March 29, 2006, from http://www.projectsouth.org/resources/zap2.html

Unknown. (2005). North American Free Trade Agreement. In Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005.

Unknown. (2005). Zapatistas. In Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005.