Zapatistas enter Mexican Politics

[rowan]

The indigenous rights group EZLN (Nationalist Zapatist Liberation Army), commonly known as the Zapatistas, have made the surprise announcement they will be entering a candidate in the 2018 Mexican elections, and that their representative will be a female native. This represents a major shift in policy for the anti-capitalist group, which has hitherto denounced institutionalized politics in favor of self-determination for indigenous peoples. In actual fact, 90% of Mexicans have some native blood but 60% prefer to call themselves Mestizo - basically European & Native. Only 30% are considered to be of predominantly indigenous ethnicity, while a mere 7% regard themselves as 'Natives.' The Zapatistas formed in 1994 in response to increasing government oppression and hardship. They take their name from revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata, a peasant from the villages who fought a decade-long war against greedy landowners a century ago and ended the corrupt dictatorship of Porfino Diaz. He was double-crossed and assassinated in 1919.

http://remezcla.com/culture/zapatistas- ... elections/