Emiliano Zapata, the warlord of the south, Without a doubt, he is one of the most famous and beloved historical figures by Mexicans.. His tragic death –betrayed and ambushed– probably facilitated the construction of the legend of the revolutionary hero.
Brief history of General Zapata
He was born in 1879, in San Miguel Anenecuilco, Morelos; a community of peasants who, since colonial times, systematically suffered the dispossession of their lands, first by the Spanish landowners and then by the Porfiriato. As a consequence of this, Zapata took up arms against the regime in 1911.
In addition, he was the only revolutionary who challenged with arms the governments of Francisco León de la Barra, Francisco I. Madero, Victoriano Huerta and Venustiano Carranza, because they did not fulfill their promises to restore the usurped lands to the peasants.
Consequently, between 1911 and 1916, Zapata commanded an army that came to control Morelos, a part of Guerrero, and southern Mexico City. However, In 1916, Venustiano Carranza commissioned General Pablo González Garza to pacify the south of the country, for which the fight to recover the state of Morelos intensified.
A state assassination
That same year, General Pablo González and Colonel Jesús María Guajardo Martínez planned an ambush to end Zapata’s life. Thus, they made the caudillo believe that the two were unaware of the Carranza government.
Later, in a first approach, Guajardo met Zapata at an Interoceanic Railroad station and there he gained his confidence. Later, he summoned him on April 10, 1919, at the Chinameca hacienda, in Morelos.
That day, Zapata arrived at the meeting accompanied only by a small escort of ten peasants and upon entering the place, Guajardo’s troops opened fire, ending his life instantly.
After his death, the Zapatista movement was losing strength, but we can say that Zapata is still alive in the Mexican imagination, as one of the revolutionary heroes. Currently, there are numerous social movements, mainly agrarian, that vindicate the figure of Emiliano Zapata and assume heirs of his struggle.
#DiegoDeVisita “Emiliano Zapata” is board number 71 of the 235 that make up the mural “Political Vision of the Mexican People”, painted by Diego Rivera. On this board, he wanted to represent Zapata’s fight for social justice towards the peasants. #Good Friday pic.twitter.com/nWcmWuWC23
— Diego Rivera Mural Museum (@MuseoMural) August 3, 2018