Zapatista

Life in Latin American Countries is not easy. However, some individuals live worse than others. Some wake up to gun shots, other wake not knowing what the day have in store for them, others wake up without their children next to them, or worse waking up and your mother is not there. I wake up every morning and not worry about these things, but the people in the state of Chiapas in Mexico do. The Indigenous people that reside in Southeast of Mexico wake up every day terrify and fear of the worse. Why is that? Because these people want to improve their living condition, they want to be recognized by the government, they want back, what was taken from them. They have started their uprising through the Zapatista. Characters that have come together as one because of a common belief, they have been able to give a "voice to the voice less".

The Indigenous people are humble people. In Mexico they reside in the jungle. As you may imagine living in the jungle is not easy. Their living conditions are not great, the do not have plumbing, for running water, to wash clothes, etc. Also, these people barely receive an elementary education. According to the book Shadows of Tender Fury The Letters and Communiques of Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. "Seventy-two out of every one-hundred children do not finish the first grade". Many indigenous children do not attend school because they are out helping their parents. (pg 35)

Health, for the indigenous people is at its worse. They do have nearby hospitals they can go to in case of emergency. Their people are dying from common diseases. Due to their poverty level the people are malnourish. "In the mountains and jungle 80percent of the people are hungry. Standard diet for campesino is coffee, corn, tortillas, and beans (pg 38)". The Indigenous people land is so rich, but sadly enough they do not benefit from the wealth of their land.

As a result these people have been able to express their demands to through the government. What they want is what we take for granted, an education for their young ones, better housing, better jobs and to sell their products at a reasonable price. The land of their ancestors that was stolen from them, they want back (pg 160-162).

The reasons for the Zapatista movement came form the injustice of the Mexican government. The Zapatistas feel that the government has allowed foreigners, to come to their land and buy their wealth. At the expense of the habitants of the jungle, the land they once call theirs has be sold. But they do not profit from economy of the lands. The government shares it among themselves. The people lost their land when the government excluded Article 27 of the Constitution, that stated that the land belong to the people. Because the government was bad, they took Article 27 out of the constitution. That how they were able to sell land. This is one main reason for the uprising. Other things that play in to facts are that the government does not want to help the indigenous people, the people ask for better living conditions.

The Zapatista have been able to get the attention of many people, such as the government, the military, and the media.

The government is the