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BEFORE RECORDED HISTORY: Indigenous tribes settle in the area now known as Southern Mexico.1524-1527 Spaniards conquer Indigenous, beginning 5 centuries of exploitation and repression. Late 1500’s Indigenous population reduced by 50% through disease and repression. Population doesn’t begin to recover until mid-seventeenth century.1712 Indigenous Tzeltal rebellion brought on by Spanish tribute demands and crop failures. The Tzeltals are brutally held down1824 Chiapas separates from Guatemala to join a weak Mexican state, allowing relative autonomy for local elites, and beginning decades of Liberal/Conservative struggles for control over land and Indigenous labor. Both Liberals and Conservatives accrue huge landholdings, displacing indigenous owners, and many Indigenous people are forced into virtual slavery.1867-1870 Indigenous communities rebel over taxation, control over markets, and religious freedom in Chamula. Violent repression again defeats the rebellion.1876-1910 Dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz oversees accumulation of immense landholdings by local Mestizos. Chiapas’ economy is opened to international trade, with coffee, cacoa, and mahogany as the major exports.1910-1920 Mexican Revolution In Chiapas, the fight is over control of land and indigenous labor. When General Alvaro Obregon becomes President in 1920, regional caciques declare loyalty in exchange for autonomy to govern Chiapas. Mexico’s ensuing agrarian reform has limited impact in the State.1928 Calles created the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), the precursor of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)-in power for 71 years, until it’s defeat in the July 2, 2000 elections.1934-1940 The populist presidency of Lazaro Cardenas proclaims a common struggle with indigenous communities. Many indigenous Chiapanecos assume positions in PRI-controlled labor unions and peasant organizations. Although Cardenas’s populism largely ends with his presidency, many indigenous political structures remain under PRI control for decades.1940-1970 Land reform under the Ejido system (communally owned land) continues to lag in Chiapas. While large land owners consolidate their holdings. Cattle ranching becomes an important business and roads penetrate the state. Pressure for land from a booming indigenous population results in over 100,000 Indians migrating to the Lancandon Jungle.1960 Samual Ruiz Garcia is named Bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas. After the Medellin Council of Latin American Bishops in 1968, Ruiz begins to promote liberation theology and an indigenous-centered Catholicism.1968 Student movement in Mexico City is brutally repressed, with hundreds murdered bt government agents in the Tlatelolco massacre. The repression convinces many activists to carry their struggle underground. Over the next decade, over two dozen urban guerilla groups develop through-out Mexico. The most active guerilla activity is between 1971 and 1975. Most movements disintegrate under brutal repression and a dirty war. Wich leave over hundreds of activists “disappeared” and over 1,000 dead.1970’s Pressure for land precipitates organized local revolts against indigenous caciques aligned with the PRI. Over the next two decades 50,000 Indians are expelled from their communities for resisting local power structures, with many settling around large cities or in the Lancandon Jungle.1974 The Indigenous Congress is organized by the Diocese of San Cristobal at the invitation of the state governor. Over 12,000 delegates representing 300 communities demand land reform, education in native languages, health care, and labor rights. The congress proves to be a historical juncture for indigenous grassroots organizing.1979 Founding meeting for the National Coordinating Committee’s “Plan de Ayala” Two dozen peasant organizations declare themselves independent of the state’s government.1982 General Absalon Castellanos Dominguez becomes Governor of Chiapas and oversees a dramatic increase of militarization to control land struggles. During his administration, 102 campesinos are assassinated, 327 are “disappeared”, 590 are imprisoned, 427 are kidnapped and tortured, 407 families are expelled from their homes, and 54 communities are overrun by security forces.1983 Marcos and other activists from the National Liberation Forces (FLN) is born on November 17 with three indigenous and thee mestizos.1985 An earthquake destroys large sections of Mexico City, inadequate and corrupt response by government officials forces civil society to organize itself, marking an important break in PRI’s control.1986 EZLN enters first indigenous community at invitation of local leaders.1988 Fraudulent presidential elections on July 6 bring PRI candidate Carlos Solinas de Gortari to power. Opposition candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardeans is ahead in polling when vote-counting computers “suddenly crash”. Three days later Salinas is declared the winner.1989 EZLN grows to over 1,300 armed members.1992 President Salinas reforms Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, ending 75 years of of land reform and allowing privatization of Ejidos.1993 Zapatista communities approve a military offensive by the EZLN and from the Clandestine Indigenous Revolutionary Committee-General Command (CCRI-GG) to lead the struggle.****1994**** JANUARY NAFTA is implemented January 1st, the same day 3,000 members of the EZLN occupy six large towns and hundreds of farms in an armed uprising. Within hours the Mexican Army responds, bombing indigenous communities and killing at least 145 indigenous people. Mexican Civil Society responds with massive demonstrations calling for an end to military repression. A cease-fire is declared on January 12th. MORE TO COME (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)!!!!!