Link to the Website: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-25565756
In this news story by BBC, the journalist Will Grant looks at where the EZLN rebel group is at twenty years after their emergence in 1994. There are interviews of journalist and supporters of the indigenous group who experienced the takeover of the state of Chiapas twenty years ago. In the video produced by the BBC, the key focus is a village that the EZLN helps to organize and maintain. In the village, there is a school and people are able to access medical services. The original leaders of the village supported the EZLN when the group first arose and took control of parts of the state. Inhabitants of the village were indigenous and believed in the message of the EZLN which were expressed through Subcomandante Marcos. The national PRI government of Mexico does not provide these towns that are managed by the EZLN because the indigenous group never asked for any kind of benefits. Many of the things in the town in the video are produced through self-sufficient means. The main point of this news story is that the ideas that the EZLN had about democracy and indigenous rights, while not taken up by the national government, were established in local towns.
http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/in-the-village-of-the-zapatistas/
The communities that are run by the Zapitatista National Liberation Army give the impression of a simple, close-knit community. Matt Gross, who is a freelance writer and travel writer for the New York Times, provides an outsider’s perspective on one of these communities, a village called Oventic, located in the state of Chiapas. The community here is a product of the revolution that occurred in 1994. Even though the revolution was over a decade ago, many of the same leftist sentiments can still be seen throughout the village. Gross describes the leftist murals that reference Che Guevara, Hugo Chavez, and other leftist revolutionary groups throughout Latin America that have influenced the EZLN. The group achieved some of the goals of the 1994 revolution in that these communities are autonomous and provide schools and clinics. The communities, which are still a sign of the revolution, are still not supported by the Mexican government. There were, at the time of this article, blockades set up by the Mexican military that only allows passage to Mexicans. One of the EZLN members in this interview stated that supporters of the group are not allowed passage because the government does not see them as Mexicans because of their opposition to the government.
The communities that are run by the Zapitatista National Liberation Army give the impression of a simple, close-knit community. Matt Gross, who is a freelance writer and travel writer for the New York Times, provides an outsider’s perspective on one of these communities, a village called Oventic, located in the state of Chiapas. The community here is a product of the revolution that occurred in 1994. Even though the revolution was over a decade ago, many of the same leftist sentiments can still be seen throughout the village. Gross describes the leftist murals that reference Che Guevara, Hugo Chavez, and other leftist revolutionary groups throughout Latin America that have influenced the EZLN. The group achieved some of the goals of the 1994 revolution in that these communities are autonomous and provide schools and clinics. The communities, which are still a sign of the revolution, are still not supported by the Mexican government. There were, at the time of this article, blockades set up by the Mexican military that only allows passage to Mexicans. One of the EZLN members in this interview stated that supporters of the group are not allowed passage because the government does not see them as Mexicans because of their opposition to the government.
https://news.vice.com/article/subcomandante-marcos-no-longer-exists-zapatista-leader-retires-his-nom-de-guerre
In 2014, in the twentieth year after the start of the revolution, the figurehead of the EZLN, Subcomandante Marcos, announced that he would no longer be the speaker for the group. During his announcement, the leader stated that the role played by the idea of Marcos is no longer a necessary part for the revolution to continue into the future. People who study the EZLN believe that this shift away is a reinvention of the role of leader of the EZLN. In the last speech that he gave as Subcomandante Marcos, he ended by changing his name Rebel Subcomandante Galeano, which is a reference to a member of the EZLN that was killed by other militants. This reinvention, while not the first one by the leader, comes as a tactic to get the maximum amount of attention on the fight for indigenous rights. The persona of Subcomandante Marcos became the movement to many people and took away from the goals of the EZLN. For the group to achieve the most for the rights of the indigenous people throughout Mexico, Marcos saw the need to remove himself from the eyes of the public. Subcomandate Marcos was just a hologram for the EZLN that became a distraction that took away from the plight of the indigenous.
In 2014, in the twentieth year after the start of the revolution, the figurehead of the EZLN, Subcomandante Marcos, announced that he would no longer be the speaker for the group. During his announcement, the leader stated that the role played by the idea of Marcos is no longer a necessary part for the revolution to continue into the future. People who study the EZLN believe that this shift away is a reinvention of the role of leader of the EZLN. In the last speech that he gave as Subcomandante Marcos, he ended by changing his name Rebel Subcomandante Galeano, which is a reference to a member of the EZLN that was killed by other militants. This reinvention, while not the first one by the leader, comes as a tactic to get the maximum amount of attention on the fight for indigenous rights. The persona of Subcomandante Marcos became the movement to many people and took away from the goals of the EZLN. For the group to achieve the most for the rights of the indigenous people throughout Mexico, Marcos saw the need to remove himself from the eyes of the public. Subcomandate Marcos was just a hologram for the EZLN that became a distraction that took away from the plight of the indigenous.
