Mexicanos Al Grito De Guerra

Mexicanos al Grito de Guerra!

On January 1, 1994 a rebel group based in the southeastern state of Chiapas, Mexico declared war on the Mexican government. The war was specifically declared on thegovernment of President Salinas and on the Insitutional Revolutionary Party.
The group that set off the war call themselves Zapatistas, in memory of the revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.Emiliano Zapata was a rebel and a revolutionary that lived during the Porfirio Diaz’ dictatorship of 1912 through 1939. During this time, Mexicans were denied the right to own land that was previously ownedby the government, but given to them though reform laws. Zapata was an instrumental figure in the disposition of Diaz, and his cause for war embalmed in his saying Tierra y Libertad –Land and Liberty-is what the Zapatistas allude to by using his name.
The Zapatistas emerge from a tradition, with Mexico, of great inequality in both wealth and rights. A convention that groups, like EmilianoZapata, formed by the people who suffer from the inequality the most have made an effort to change.
At the heart of the Zapatista movement are those who find themselves in ignorance, oppressionand poverty- the indigenous people of Mexico.
The Zapatistas are mainly formed by descendents of the pre-Hispanic culture of the Mayas and speak languages that have their root in the ancientMayan language. These descendents of the once great Mayan culture are fighting for things as simple as roof over their heads, work, and food, mixed with more abstract issues and often tough tosubstantiate, such as dignity and respect.
The point of disagreement between the government and the Zapatistas is not whether the indigenous people suffer worse living conditions than the averageMexican, but what to do about it. The government has long held that more aid and investment in regions heavily populated by indigenous people, coupled with time, will raise their quality of life....