Emiliano Zapata Essay -- essays research papers

Emiliano Zapata, born on August 8, 1879, in the village of Anenecuilco, Morelos (Mexico), Emiliano Zapata was of mestizo heritage and the son of a peasant medier, (a sharecropper or proprietor of a small plot of land). From the age of eighteen, after the death of his father, he had to support his m new(prenominal) and three sisters and managed to do so very successfully. The little parent prospered enough to allow Zapata to augment the already respectable place he had in his native village. In September of 1909, the residents of Anenecuilco elected Emiliano Zapata president of the villages "defense committee," an old group charged with defending the communitys interests. In this position, it was Zapatas duty to represent his villages rights before the president-dictator of Mexico, Porfirio Daz, and the governor of Morelos, Pablo Escandn. During the 1880s, Mexico had experienced a boom in sugar scold production, a development that led to the acquisition of much and more l and by the hacienderos or plantation owners. Their plantations grew while whole villages disappeared and more and more medieros and other peasants lost their livelihoods or were forced to work on the haciendas. It was beneath these conditions that a plantation called El Hospital neighboring Zapatas village began encroaching more and more upon the small farmers lands. This was the first conflict in which Emiliano Zapata established his reputation as a fighter and leader. He led various peaceful occupations and re-divisions of land, increasing his status and his fame to give him regional recognition.In 1910, Francisco Madero, a son of wealthy plantation owners, instigated a revolution against the government of president Daz. Even though almost of his motives were political (institute effective suffrage and disallow reelections of presidents), Maderos subverter plan included provisions for returning seized lands to peasant farmers. The latter became a rallying cry for the peasantry a nd Zapata began organizing locals into revolutionary bands, riding from village to village, tearing down hacienda fences and opposing the landed elites encroachment into their villages. On November 18, the federal government began rounding up Maderistas (the followers of Francisco Madero), and only xlviii hours later, the first shots of the Mexican Revolution were fired. While the government was confide... ...Morelos seemed at a permanent stalemate. Carranza knew that he could never fully take Mexico while Zapata was still alert and in charge of his army. To rid himself of his enemy, Carranza devised a trap. A letter had been intercepted in which Zapata invited a colonel of the Mexican army who had shown leanings toward his cause to meet and join forces. This colonel, Jess Guajardo, under the threat of being executed as a traitor, pretended to agree to meet Zapata and defect to his side. On Thursday, April 10, 1919, Zapata walked into Carranzas trap as he met with Guajardo in the townspeople of Chinameca. There, at 210 PM, Zapata was shot and killed by federal soldiers, and as the man Zapata hit the ground, dead instantly, the legend of Zapata reached its climax. Carranza did not achieve his goal by killing Zapata. On the contrary, in May of 1920, lvaro Obregn, one of Zapatas right-hand men, entered the capital with a large fighting force of Zapatistas, and after Carranza had fled, formed the seventy-third government in Mexicos history of independence. In this government, the Zapatistas played an important role, especially in the Department of Agriculture. Mexico was finally at peace.