Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata was the leading agrarian revolutionary of the Mexican Revolution, whose demand for land redistribution — 'Tierra y Libertad' (Land and Liberty) — gave the revolution its most radical social content. A village leader in Morelos who had witnessed hacienda owners absorbing communal lands, he joined Madero's revolution in 1910 and quickly became independent when Madero moved too slowly on land reform. His Plan de Ayala (November 1911) declared the hacienda system illegal and called for immediate redistribution of stolen lands to the pueblos (villages). Zapata refused to leave his home state of Morelos, fighting for and briefly controlling a model of agrarian self-governance. His Ejército Liberador del Sur (Liberation Army of the South) was a genuine peasant army, not a mercenary force. He refused the offers and bribes of every faction in turn. In late 1914 he and Villa occupied Mexico City together but neither wanted the capital's political power. He was lured into a trap by Carranza's general Jesús Guajardo and ambushed at Chinameca on 10 April 1919. His assassination made him immortal: the 1994 Zapatista uprising (EZLN) in Chiapas took his name.
- Lived: 1879 CE – 1919 CE
- Nationality: mexican
- Roles: revolutionary, military_leader, agrarian_leader
