A group of seven Zapatistas, indigenous Mexcian revolutionaries, is getting ready to set sale across the Atlantic ocean in an attempt to peacefully invade Spain and mark the 500-year anniversary of the Spanish conquest.
On May 3rd, the Zapatista’s conquering force – three men, three women and a transgender woman – will leave Mexican soil aboard a wooden boat named “La Montana”, or “The Mountain”, hoping to reach Spain by August 13, the day that the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan fell to the Spanish conquistadors in 1521. Only instead of drowning the land in blood, like the conquistadors, the Zapatistas are planning a peaceful takeover that even includes a party upon their arrival.
Photo: Zapatistas
“I declare that from now on this place, currently referred to as ‘Europe’ by those who live here, be called: SLUMIL K´AJXEMK´OP, which means ‘Rebellious Land’ or ‘Land which does not give in nor give up,’ the transgender revolutionary will proclaim upon arriving in Spain. “And that is how it will be known by its own people and by others for as long as there is at least someone here who does not surrender, sell out, or give up.”
“If we manage to land and embrace with words those who are in the struggle there, who resist and rebel, then there will be a party with song and dance, and the beat of cumbia and the rhythm of hips will shake distant lands and skies,” Zapatista leader, Subcomandante Galeano, proclaimed.
Photo: Zapatistas
But the now legendary revolutionary, who has been leading the Zapatistas since 1994, admits that there is a chance La Montana will not be allowed to dock when in arrives in the Spanish city of Vigo. In that case, the seven voyagers will take four wooden canoes that they built to represent different stages of the Zapatista experience and paddle back to Mexico.
It’s not clear how the Zapatistas plan to make the journey across the Atlantic in wooden canoes, but then again, the whole invasion mission seems a bit weird.
The Zapatistas rose to fame in 1994, when they staged a 12-day uprising in the southwestern state of Chiapas to protest the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and raise awareness to the plight of indigenous people in Mexico. Led by the charismatic Subcomandante Galeano, the Zpatistas occupied buildings across several Chiapas towns and cities, in an operation that required the intervention of the army to quell.
Announced back in October of 2020, the Zapatistas’ unusual journey aims to send the Spanish two messages: 1) “You didn’t conquer us. We continue to resist and rebel”; 2) “There’s no reason for you to ask our forgiveness for anything.”
