Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919), Mexican revolutionary leader and agrarian reformer, born in San Miguel Anenecuilco (now Anenecuilco de los Zapata), in Morelos State. An illiterate tenant farmer of almost pure Native American blood, he recruited an army of Native Americans from villages and haciendas in Morelos and, under the rallying cry “Land and Liberty,” joined the Mexican revolutionist Francisco Indalécio Madero in the 1910 revolt against the Mexican soldier-statesman Porfirio Díaz. Having lost faith in Madero, who assumed the presidency in 1911, Zapata formulated his agrarian reform plan; known as the Plan of Ayala, it called for the land to be redistributed among the Native Americans. During the provisional presidencies of the Mexican soldier-politician Victoriano Huerta and, later, the Mexican statesman Venustiano Carranza, Zapata continued his resistance to the government. By this time Zapata had extended his power throughout southern Mexico. With the Mexican revolutionary general Francisco Villa, Zapata marched on Mexico City, entering it the first of three times in 1914. The following year Zapata withdrew to Morelos where, still resisting, he later was murdered by an agent of Carranza.

Although regarded as merely a pillaging bandit by his enemies, Zapata was idolized by the Native Americans as the true revolutionary reformer and hero; his life has inspired countless legends and ballads.