Zapatista territories
Zapatista territories | |
|---|---|
| Motto(s): Aquí manda el Pueblo y el Gobierno Obedece (Spanish) "Here the people command and the government obeys" | |
| Anthem: Himno Zapatista | |
| Coordinates: 16°55′33″N 92°45′37″W / 16.92583°N 92.76028°W | |
| Population | |
• Estimate (2018) | 300,000 |
| Demonym | Zapatista |
The Zapatista territories are a de facto autonomous region controlled or partially controlled by neo-Zapatista support bases in the Mexican state of Chiapas since the Zapatista uprising in 1994 and during the wider Chiapas conflict.
From 1994 to 2003, the Zapatista territories were structured as regional community centers called Aguascalientes. In 2003, the Aguascalientes were replaced by Centers of Autonomous Resistance and Zapatista Rebellion (CRAREZ), a term coined in 2019, which consisted of Caracoles as community centers, over local formations (until 2023) as the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (MAREZ) governed by Councils of Good Government (Spanish: Juntas de Buen Gobierno). In 2023, after increased cartel violence, the EZLN announced the dissolution of the CRAREZ and its sub-formations, replacing them with hyperlocal Local Autonomous Governments (GAL) within local Zapatista Autonomous Government Collectives (CGAZ) and regional Assemblies of Collectives of Zapatista Autonomous Governments (ACGAZ). Despite attempts at negotiation with the Mexican government which resulted in the San Andrés Accords in 1996, the region's autonomy remains unrecognized by that government.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) does not hold formal political power in Zapatista governance. According to its constitution, no commander or member of the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee may take positions of authority or government in these spaces.