zapatista

ADJ SMF Zapatista

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zapatista

adj/mf

Zapatista

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zapatista

♦ adj

1. Pol Zapatista

2. Hist Zapatista, = relating to the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919)

♦ nmf

1. Pol Zapatista, = member of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a mainly indigenous rebel group in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas

2. Hist = follower or supporter of the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919)

ZAPATISTAS

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (“Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional”), which takes its name from the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, is a guerrilla organization based in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The group hit the world headlines at the start of 1994, when armed Zapatistas occupied the town of San Cristóbal de las Casas to proclaim their defence of the rights of indigenous people and their opposition to the NAFTA treaty with the United States, which had just come into force. After initial sporadic fighting with the Mexican army, a peace process was established in 1996, although this has so far failed to result in agreement with the government, and parts of Chiapas, particularly jungle areas, are still effectively under Zapatista control. The Zapatistas opened up a second front on the Internet, reaching out to sympathizers across the globe through the writings of their principal spokesman, who uses the name “Subcomandante Marcos”. Since 2005 they have launched a political campaign to build a national front against the privatization of public resources, and for constitutional change, freedom, justice and democracy.

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Zapatista

m/f Méx : member or supporter of the Zapatista National Liberation Army