Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata was one of the main protagonists of the Mexican Revolution. Many farmers made him a hero and a myth. Born in Anenecuilco (Morelos), probably in 1879, and was the son of poor peasants. In 1909, he led a group that took some land to distribute among the farmers who cultivated them. Zapata and thought then that "the land belongs to the tiller". A year later, joined the revolutionaries who led Francisco I. Madero to end porfiriato (the dictatorship exercised by President Porfirio Díaz). In 1911, Zapata withdrew from Madero, who had been elected president and supported the Plan de Ayala. This program or manifesto defended the fight against the Madero government, and appointed chief of the revolution to Pascual Orozco. The Plan of Ayala considered that the main objective of the Mexican Revolution was to be the land reform, land distribution among the poorest peasants. Hence, their slogan was "land, justice and freedom." After Madero's presidency (1911-1913), came to the dictator Victoriano Huerta (1913-1914) and the Constitutionalist Venustiano Carranza (1914-1920). Zapata, who continued to fight against governments with guerrilla groups, came to control a part of southern Mexico. In 1913, Pascual Orozco was considered a traitor by the revolutionaries, and they amended the Plan de Ayala Zapata to appoint chief of the revolution. The following year, he entered Mexico City in front of the Southern Liberation Army called. With him was another famous revolutionary Francisco (or Pancho) Villa. With a slogan as simple as "land and liberty," Zapata came to have under its command to nearly 15,000. On 10 April 1919, Zapata was killed at the Hacienda de San Juan Chinameca, located in the town of Cuautla (Morelos). He had been ambushed by Carranza authorized, organized by General Pablo Gonzalez and carried out by Colonel Jesús Guajardo.