He was one of the most relevant leaders of the Mexican Revolution, Emiliano Zapata Salazar, the eternal insurgent or The Caudillo of the Southas he was better known, was born in 1879 in Anenecuilco, in the state of Morelos, and from a young age he witnessed the systematic dispossession of land suffered by peasants, including his own family, at the hands of rich landowners.
Consequently, he led uprisings against chiefs who monopolized the land, demanding social justice. Already in the Mexican Revolution, he led the Liberation Army of the South, which fought for freedom and equality; social democracy, respect for indigenous and peasant communities; and to achieve equitable agricultural distribution.
Who was Emiliano Zapata? Know his biography
The dispossession of land that many peasants suffered in those times was protected by the Law on Occupation and Disposal of Vacant Land promulgated by Porfirio Díaz in 1894, which authorized anyone to denounce and acquire land declared vacant.
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For this reason, both foreign companies and landowners took advantage of the fact that many indigenous communities did not have property titles to their lands to declare them vacant and thus allocate them to them.
“The land belongs to those who work it,” Zapata’s slogan
In this context, as an agrarian leader of Morelos, Zapata joined the Maderista revolution in 1911 and despite its victory, he did not abandon his weapons because Madero failed to distribute land to peasants.
Likewise, that same year, The Caudillo of the South He proclaimed the Ayala Plan, where he summarized the peasant struggle in the phrase “The land belongs to those who work it”; exposing in 15 points the need to achieve social justice through agrarian distribution.
Finally, until 1919, the date of his death from an ambush, Emiliano Zapata fought for a more just Mexico and part of his slogans were incorporated into the Agrarian Reform, which began to distribute land to peasants throughout the country starting in 1915 with the Agrarian Law.
Keep reading: Agrarian Reform in Mexico What is it and what does it consist of?