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5. Zapata Herbert Siguenza (La Raza Graphic Center) Silkscreen, 1979 02231 EMILIANO ZAPATA (1879-1919) Mexican revolutionary leader, Emiliano Zapata was born in Morelos. His early years were marked with poverty, hard work, and a meager education. In 1910, when the Mexican Revolution broke out, he became an important leader in the region. Zapata became a beloved and admired general to the peasants, and a feared and hated man to all who stood in his way. In 1911, he developed the Plan de Ayala, which proposed many agrarian reforms, including returning lost lands to the peasants. His plan was incorporated into the revolutionary goals in 1914. Zapata formed an uneasy alliance with Pancho Villa from the North against Venustiano Carranza. Villa’s defeat in 1915 caused Zapata to withdraw from the mountains in Morelos. Zapata was murdered in 1919 by federal troops who pretended to defect from the government’s ranks. He and Villa remain symbols of the poor peasants’ revolt against the rich and powerful. They were important for the Chicano Movement of the 1960's. The contemporary revolutionary peasant movement in Chiapas also refers back to his demands for agrarian reform, by calling themselves “Zapatistas.”