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The Zapatistas Power Struggle With The Mexican Government

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The Zapatistas’ power struggle with the Mexican government weighed heavily on their community: they were suppressed due to being targeted and faced with racial disparities in their government and communities. Corruption and racism were the main issues causing their oppression through constant public berating, lack of control in government, and their hunger for justice. The Zapatistas began their list of EZLN demands by addressing governmental corruption and unequal rights because they were the main problem holding them back from having their own control. Most of the EZLN demands include some type of governmental reform or regulation, so the first demand can be considered to encompass their biggest concerns. The indigenous held no role in government, so their first …show more content…

In this statement, the Zapatistas are also criticizing them for not handling the situation with the dignity that the indigenous have when they peacefully protest. Through the Zapatista rebellion and opposition to the government, they prove their EZLN statement: without the democracy they are fighting for, their liberty and justice are nonexistent because of their under-representation. After the passage of NAFTA, the Zapatistas made a clear goal not to accept any of the Mexican government’s handouts, because it would show the government that they were okay with what was happening and confirm a “submission,” almost allowing the government to continue to abuse their land, rights, and dignity. By taking the indigenous community’s land, NAFTA completely and unfairly hurt indigenous workers and their source of income. During the debt crisis around the 1970s and 1980s, there had already been a population increase that caused families to receive “smaller plots of land,” leading to increasingly less

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