Donald Trump's campaign has brought a significant amount of international attention on the somewhat porous border between the United States and Mexico. It unfortunately has not increased the media coverage of the difficulties facing the Mexican people nor explained why so many Mexicans risk crossing the border in the first place. Mexico faces a series of grave threats that impact the US in major ways. Drug trafficking, kidnappings, gang violence, military corruption and dysfunctional governmental agencies are near crippling instabilities for a country and to top it off, the southernmost state of Mexico is in outright rebellion.
The day Mexico signed NAFTA in 1994 is the day the EZLN rose up against the government. Better known as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, or simply Zapatistas, they are primarily indigenous Mexicans living in some of the poorest sections in Chiapas. Primarily agrarian farmland, the Zapatistas rose up to protest NAFTA undercutting the farmland already struggling in poverty stricken southern Mexico, police and military violence in the region, and the lack of land reform promised in the constitution. NAFTA created a wealth of new growth in Mexico closest to the US border The initial uprising was violent on both sides, but as time went on the EZLN took shape into a revolutionary force the likes of which has not been seen anywhere else in the world.
While most revolutionary forces are brutal, and there was violence, the EZLN has a history of interesting nonviolent strategies that promoted its cause internationally. They have, in the past, invited journalists into their territory which is generally barred to the outside world, broadcast their struggle online, funded their campaign through international sales online of hand crafted EZLN goods etc. This brought a lot of international attention to the movement, enough to survive attempts to reclaim the area.
One of the most interesting aspects of the EZLN is its spokesperson, Subcomandante Marcos. The persona of Subcomandante Marcos is a creation of the Zapatista movement. He is simultaneously a guerilla fighter and a poet, whose many talents include being brought back time and time again to assist the Zapatista movement. Within the movement there is a practice of taking a fallen comrade’s name to honor their passing and to keep their memory alive. The Subcomandante persona has officially died and taken the name of Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano. The figure has appeared in other aspects of the movement under the turn Delegado Cero or Delegate Zero who represents the Mexican indigenous population protesting peacefully for their rights.
The dysfunctional government can be traced back to the authoritarian control of Mexico by the PRI, or the Institutional Revolutionary Party. For 71 years the PRI ruled everything in Mexico and while freedom was in short supply, the drug cartels and gang violence was hampered by the military buildup. The Mexican government has undergone serious changes in adapting to the modern world outside of authoritarian rule. Mexico has not recognized the EZLN or their demands however, the government has larger problems to deal with in defending against the well-armed gangs and drug cartels. Currently the EZLN has seemingly recognized the instability of the Mexican government and has chosen to relinquish the violent approach to attaining their demands. The territory in Chiapas is for all intents and purposes an unrecognized autonomous zone where the Zapatistas run their own schools and communities peacefully in protest of their infringed rights. The Zapatista movement is still going strong in 2016, Mexico’s problems are still and in dire need of assistance if ever the Zapatista movement hopes for success.