User:OldManRivers/Zapatistas

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) is a indigenous social movement based in Chiapas, Mexico. The group takes its name from Emiliano Zapata, a commander of the Liberation Army of the South during the Mexican Revolution, whose forces were colloquially known as the Zapatistas. The EZLN see themselves as his ideological heirs. The Zapatista's are made up of numerous municipalities, towns, villages, and regions in Chiapas. The military wing of the organization is lead by the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee, which is made up of 23 commanders and 1 subcommander. They aim to create autonomy from the Mexican government in their communities with their main slogan "Democracy! Liberty! Justice!". Their main and most well-known spokesperson is Subcomandante Marcos. The base for the organization is made up of indigenous peoples, but have gained support on a international scale. Their first armed conflict was on January 1st, 1994, but they quickly retreated into the jungles and then since changed their tactics into global civil society support. The Zapatistas oppose neo-liberalism, and aim to achieve control over their own resources and communities, and although they are an armed group, they maintain a non-violence ideology.