“I forgive who steals and who is killed, but whoever betrays, never” – Emiliano Zabata
Today is April 10, 2025. Day is like today, but since 1919, Emiliano Zabata has been killed in an ambush published by those who have not been able to bend in life. More than a century, his character is still a slogan for struggle, justice and betrayal.
Land and freedom. This slogan, which would be shaken to Mexico, was not present when he was born, on August 8, 1879. In Annecuilco, Morielus arrived at the house of Gabriel Zapata and Clevas Salazar, to the world Emiliano, the eighth of ten children. Campesino by CRIB, revolutionary by pot.
After years, these three words – land and freedom – will determine their cause, knowledge and punishment. Zapata did not seek power; Justice seeker. His battle was his battle, those who deprived the land but did not possess it, those who loaded the country in the back without sound or vote.
Awake the peasant leader
At the age of twenty -seven, he was already organizing societal councils in Cuutla, defending EJIDO’s lands against the progress of land owners. This mountain led him to recruit him in the ninth regiment in 1908, when he served only six months. But his battle was not military. It was moral.
In 1909, he was elected head of the Defense Council for Anecuilco. From this position, he reviewed the colonial documents and agricultural titles that showed that the land belongs to its people, and not to the landowners who raped them with the complicity of power.
Zapata was not alone. Link to the main characters such as Ricardo Flores Magon, Bolio Martinez and Utillio Montau. He actively participated in the state elections, and Patricio Leva supported as an opposition candidate. But Pablo Eskandon’s official victory brought more disposal and violence to the people.
Revolution, rupture, and Alala plan
In 1910, in the full revolutionary lightness, Emiliano returned to Earth to the peasants of Villa de Ayala, protected by political President Jose A. Vivanco. This gesture will actually be a foundation, and it is a progress of what will happen.
He supported San Louis de Madero’s plan, but soon disappointed. The promise of agricultural reform has disappeared between the elite agreements. In response, he launched his own statement: Ayala’s plan, in 1911. There, Madeeriso, on the weapon on his own, called for an immediate return to the land.
When Madiro was killed and Herta took power, Zabata became one of the most influential revolutionary leaders in the country. Morelos dominatedBut it also had a presence in Guerrero, Puebla, Tlaxcala and Mexico. In 1914, he entered the city of Mexico with Pancho Villa. For a moment, two of the two leading leaders in the north and south participated in the case.
Decline, betrayal and crime
But the revolution, like power, devour their children. The relationship with Caranza deteriorated after the Aguascalientes agreement. The released southern army maintained its independence, defending the principles of Ayala’s plan, while the Constitutions agreed to a new matter.
The war did not stop. In 1916, General Pablo Gonzalez Cornevaka took it, but Zabatisas recovered it. The battle lasted until the betrayal itself hides as a negotiation.
To eliminate Zabata, Gonzalez and Colonel Jesus Gawegdardo demonstrated a rebellion against Caranza. Deception work. On April 10, 1919, at Hacienda De Chinameca, Guajardo put a trap. They cleared it. His body, distorted, publicly, was shown to plant fear. They did not succeed.
Zapatista legacy: memory and news
His remains rest in Kuotella today, at the foot of the statue he honors. But Zabata did not die. He lives in every farmer defending his land, in every protest claiming justice. His voice hesitates every time someone screams “Earth and Freedom!”
Because as he said: Betrayal does not forgive.
106 years after the killing of Emiliano Zapaba, his legacy is still subject to historical and political analysis. An ambush in Chinameca Hacienda has not seen the material end of one of the most shooting leaders of the Mexican Revolution, but also crystallized the role of the role betrayal As a tragic axis in revolutionary operations.
Ayala’s plan and the political dimension to waste it
This phrase attributed to Zabata – “I forgive the person who steals and who is killed, but the person who betrays, never” – reflects morals deeply rooted in the context of his time, where alliances were made and broke blood. Although there are no official records proving that this phrase has been said in a text, its content coincides with the way in which failed negotiations with Francisco I. Madero, Vinostano Karanza and other actors in the conflict were faced.
According to numbers from the nation’s general archive, Ayala Plan He had at least 10 different editions between 1911 and 1917, which represents its political importance in the years of the revolution. This document clearly suggested that the lands be restored and the ignorance of any government that did not comply with such a promise, which leads to the distinction of the Zabatista movement from the rest of the revolutionary factions.
Today, the name Emiliano Zapata is one of the most used organizations in social organizations, especially in farmers’ movements. The National Liberation Army (EZLN), active since 1994 in Chapas, was declared direct inheritance to the Zapatista ideology. His appearance coincided with the entry of the North America’s Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which many rural sectors are seen as a threat to the social property of the land.
Zabata in contemporary culture
The Federal Ministry of Culture stated that in 2024, more than two million people visited the CASA De Emiliano Zapata Museum at Annecuilco, making it one of the most crowded historical sites in the country. This cultural phenomenon again confirms that the character has exceeded the official history, to become a transverse symbol that crosses generations, geography and social classes.
In 2019, when the centenary of his death was celebrated, the Mexican government, “Emiliano Zapata”, announced and strengthened a series of salutations throughout the country. However, in the same year, a controversy was launched by a pictorial work displayed in fine arts, where Zapata was filmed in a gay position. The incident revived discussions about Specialization and acting Revolutionary heritage in contemporary art.
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