This is popular front a podcast focus on the very niche and kind of geeky

details of Modern Warfare with me Jake Hanrahan. For this episode we're speaking to journalist Janet Basuto.

She's going to be telling us about the Zapatista movement and how their militant wing,

the EZLEN, are basically gearing up to potentially go back to war with the

Mexican government right now. The EZLN, the Zappatista's, they're

socialist libertarians and they control their own kind of autonomous zone in a place called Chippas. They've been doing their thing down there but now it looks like the government want to build right through their land and they've basically said look we're not having it and they're also

surrounded by military bases so things aren't looking good. If you like what we're

doing here at Popular Front please do consider supporting us at Patreon.com

slash Popular Front.

So first, maybe explain who the EZ Allen are the Zapatistas because you know obviously there's this situation

with them at the minute but a lot of people have probably never heard of them

despite them being quite a big group you know maybe you can go into the history and what they're all about.

Yeah, absolutely.

So the E.L.N.

is that Ergherse, Zapatista Depressionational, which is kind of their paramilitary group that started in Chiapas and a little bit of

the background within Chiapas as well is that during this time it's one of the southernmost

states in Mexico it borders Guatemala and during this time it's one of the poorest

states half of the people didn't have running water,

didn't have sewage systems.

90% of the people lived in extreme poverty.

I mean, the education levels were abhorrent and children died of curable diseases.

So I mean you can feel that there is this marginalized community there way before the E Zealand started.

...