Chiapas conflict

History and socio-political background

After the Mexican War of Independence, Mexico retained the Spanish colonial legal code of limpieza de sangre, which distinguished those of Spanish ancestry from those of indigenous ancestry. This code contributed to later struggles over land rights and social rights, rooted in a strict class structure with Criollo people at the top. Among non-Criollo populations, particularly Mestizos, similar issues persisted through the 19th century.

During the Mexican Revolution of 1910, poor farmers and marginalized groups, led partly by Emiliano Zapata, rebelled against the authoritarian regime of Porfirio Díaz. The Zapatistas later took their name from Zapata. Post-revolution agrarian reforms included Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which abolished the encomienda system and granted indigenous groups the legal capacity to enjoy communal possession of lands, forests, and waters. This created the ejido system, organizing lands for rural and indigenous communities, though these lands were often sold to multinational corporations.

In the highlands region of Chiapas, Aldama has experienced a territorial dispute since the 1970s. During the 1980s and 1990s, Mexico's economic policy shifted toward industrial development and attracting foreign capital, then toward branding Mexico as an agricultural power. The EZLN claims existence since 1983, gaining traction by the early 1990s.

Timeline

In 1982, General Absalón Castellanos Domínguez, then Governor of Chiapas, increased violent oppression against indigenous people. Members of the National Liberation Forces (FLN), including Rafael Vicente (later known as Subcomandante Marcos), moved into the area later that year. By late 1983, the EZLN was formed by three indigenous people and three mestizos, and as it grew, it came to consist primarily of indigenous or partly indigenous people.

In December 1993, the EZLN issued the First Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, declaring the government of Mexico and President Gortari illegitimate, rooted in Emiliano Zapata's Plan of Ayala (1911). On 1 January 1994, the EZLN began its military insurrection in Chiapas, on the same date the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect. The EZLN operated from the Lacandon Jungle, capturing the towns of Ocosingo, Las Margaritas, Altamirano, and San Cristóbal de las Casas. By 2 January, rebels captured former Governor Castellanos Domínguez, holding him hostage after a tribunal found him guilty of anti-indigenous crimes and corruption.

By 3 January, the EZLN had lost over 50 soldiers, over 100 civilians had been killed, and they withdrew from San Cristóbal de las Casas. They also captured a government prison with about 180 inmates. During 1–12 January 1994, the government insisted there were only a few hundred rebels, while the EZLN reported numbering in the thousands.

List of violent incidents (1994–2020)

The Chiapas conflict claimed 105 lives in total. The initial uprising began on January 1, 1994, when the Zapatistas declared war on the Mexican government; over the next twelve days, Zapatista forces killed 54 people in and around Ocosingo. During 1995 and 1996, both sides carried out assassinations, forced displacements, ambushes, and roadblocks in the Chilón-Bachajón area of the Northern Zone. On March 14, 1997, state police in San Pedro Nixtalucum attacked civilians who supported the EZLN, killing four, wounding 29, detaining 27, and displacing 300.

On November 4, 1997, anti-Zapatista paramilitaries attacked bishops from the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas near Tila. By the end of November 1997, over 4,500 Indigenous people—members of Las Abejas and Zapatista sympathizers—had fled violence in Chenalhó. On December 22, 1997, right-wing paramilitaries massacred 45 people, mostly women and children from the civil group Las Abejas, who were refugees in Acteal, Chenalhó. On April 11, 1998, police and military forces dismantled the autonomous municipality Ricardo Flores Magón in Taniperlas, Ocosingo, detaining nine Mexicans and expelling twelve foreigners.

On May 1, 1998, a similar operation dismantled Tierra y Libertad in Amparo Agua Tinta, detaining 53 people. On June 3, 1998, over a thousand security forces entered Nicolás Ruiz, detaining more than 100 community members. On June 10, 1998, a military and police operation dismantled San Juan de la Libertad in El Bosque, killing eight civilians and two police officers. On August 3, 1998, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Center for Human Rights reported that in the previous six months, Chiapas had seen 57 summary executions, six political assassinations, over 185 expulsions of foreigners, numerous cases of severe torture, dozens of attempts on the lives of human rights defenders and social leaders, and hundreds of military and police actions in the conflict zone.

Media influence

The Zapatistas had little physical effect outside Chiapas but dominated the information space, strengthening their image and gaining allies among foreign activists and journalists. Original material from the EZLN, whose members lived in the jungle, started as written communiques for media outlets, later uploaded to the Internet. Forums and websites discussing the conflict were sponsored by advocacy groups focused on Latin America and indigenous protection, mostly in North America and Western Europe. After the uprising, fax campaigns and public caravans became popular methods for gaining media attention and organizing supporters.