Subcomandante Marcos

Who is Subcomandante Marcos?

Subcomandante Marcos or Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos is the nom de guerre used by the main ideologist, spokesperson and de facto leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a Mexican rebel movement fighting for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. On 1 January 1994, when the U.S.–Mexico–Canada free trade agreement became effective, Subcommander Marcos led an army of Mayan farmers into eastern Chiapas state, to protest what he saw as the Mexican federal government's mistreatment of the nation's indigenous peoples. Marcos is also a writer, a political poet, and an anti-capitalist who advocates the amendment of the Political Constitution of Mexico to formally and specifically recognize the political and the human rights of Mexico's indigenous peoples.

Journalists have described Marcos as both a post-modern and new Che Guevara. In his military capacity as a Subcommander of the Zapatista Army, his nom de guerre Marcos is that of a friend killed at a military road-block checkpoint. In his political capacity, he is known as Delegado Cero for his participation in the affairs of La otra campaña, concerning the communitary autonomy and the socio-political rights of los indios de México.