Who Was The Real Emiliano Zapata?

Emiliano Zapata was an outlaw, an activist, and a celebrity all in one

There are dead that cannot rest, because when they were alive their presence was too strong.

Last year marked the 100th anniversary of Emiliano Zapata’s death. Zapata, the man from the mountains of southern Mexico, fought for land, freedom and justice for the “peasants.”

With his huge sombrero, his serious, tanned face with attractive features, his rifle and charro suit, for years his image was the ideal prototype of the Mexican man.

The golden age of Mexican cinema is replete with characters that look like him.

What not everyone has agreed on is Zapata’s soul. What defined him? In life, dirty politics and name-calling followed him as tenaciously as the enemy armies.

Last year, on the centenary of his death, he was haunted by another image, a kind of reverse of the coin.