Chapter XV: Zapata and His Campaign in the South

Undoubtedly there is no Mexican who has been talked about, described, praised and vilified more than Emiliano Zapata, in the last four years. Now everybody can pronounce his name in America, for it has become a byword of the revolution in Mexico.

Innumerable articles have been written in America on Zapata but I have only met two men who had seen him,--one was a Mexican newspaperman and the other was a federal major who slept in the same room with him, unconscious of the fact that a few feet from his bed there was the man he was supposed to capture dead or alive for Huerta, with three thousand soldiers. When he did discover this interesting fact, Zapata was miles away. This incident proved conclusively that the southern chief could not be caught by force, and that the Indians in Morelos would as soon think of committing suicide as to betray him.

The nature of the volcanic country in the State of Morelos makes it very hard for a body of soldiers to march through it without danger of being surprised and ambushed almost every hundred yards. Every peon in Morelos and many other southern States is a Zapatista.

No man could have held such power as Zapata over the population of almost three States, by offering in return only the spoils of war or brigandage. No bandit ever controlled thirty thousand men on the mere results or promise of loot or theft. The Zapatistas, with few exceptions, are all for the abolition of all forms of slavery and for the distribution of lands. Although Zapata is not the intellectual leader of the Zapatistas, his name has become a legend. Many people claim that he never existed, others claim that Genovevo de la O was the braver and more intelligent of the two, and the real leader.

There were several leaders who fought Diaz before Zapata became prominent, but the Morelian chief represented the deepest yearnings, the most profound aspirations and all the unspoken desires of a miserable, downtrodden, but patient, long-suffering and kindly race. Any one who has visited that Garden of Eden of Mexico, the State of Morelos, will bear testimony to the simplicity, morality and patience of the Morelian Indians, their love of the soil which is almost a passion, their sterling qualities.

The injustices, robberies and cruelties perpetrated on the Indians are almost incredible, and almost unbelievable in our century. Until the European war started, civilized people did not believe that soldiers could be so cruel, reckless and ruthless against an enemy.

Zapata’s and Villa’s wholesale shooting of prisoners, the looting of haciendas, banks and stores in captured cities, their retaliation against federal officers, now seem like kid-glove, pink-tea affairs, after the stories of German atrocities. In the light of these atrocities, Villa might be a Mexican Chesterfield, and Zapata a scrupulous Morelian hidalgo of the most fastidious tastes. Strange to relate, the most virulent attacks against Mexican civilization, methods of warfare and revolutionary barbarities, were written by German editorialists. The Mexicans had no Treitschkes, Nietzsches, von Bernhardis to sing the pæans of war, of the destruction and annihilation of enemies, and inoffensive non-combatants in the name of a higher culture and a greater civilization.

The precedents of cruelties and wanton destruction were created by the federal officers under Diaz and Huerta. Where the Federals passed, they left a trail of death and desolation. To prove that they had fought valiantly the Federals killed peaceful peons and sent the ears of the Indians as vouchers to the War Department.

Whole villages passed through fire and sword--in others all the men were impressed into the army, and the women and children concentrated in the cities. Thousands of fruit trees that had been growing for years, bearing fruit, and which were the sole source of income of families of peons, were ruthlessly cut down to be sold for firewood by greedy Jefes Políticos. A whole population was decimated because it would not stay under the leash of the slave driver on the sugar and tobacco plantations owned by half a dozen rich families.

Their day of reckoning has almost arrived, and no matter what Zapata or any other leader may do politically, the peons of Morelos know that the lands are theirs for the taking.

Morelos is one of the smallest States in Mexico, and one of the richest, and has an area of 2,734 square miles and a population of 179,114. As many as thirty thousand soldiers with machine guns and cannon were sent to conquer Zapata and his army, but Zapata remained unconquered. All the generals, including Huerta, who had won laurels in many battlefields, invariably lost them in Morelos. The Federals fought according to book-strategy, while Zapata and his chiefs fought with the same fabian tactics which defeated Hannibal in Italy and Napoleon in Spain. When the patient, ignorant, but physically powerful Indians discovered that they could shoot and fight as well as the trained Federals, and that a few thousand Indians banded together could keep at bay a whole army of Federals, the struggle for land was won.

But there is the reverse of the medal. As all strong people have their compensation in some flaw, so has Zapata a great weakness which prevents him from becoming the greatest factor for good in his country. His illiteracy, coupled with a lack of knowledge of politicians of the middle and higher class, make him an easy prey to all sorts of schemers and intriguers.

For years Zapata kept up his guerrilla warfare, accompanied by a staff of officers and several secretaries. One of the most famous was a certain Montaño, a school-teacher who wrote the first plan which Zapata endorsed. The second plan, which was written by a certain Palafox, another secretary, and was named the Plan of Ayala, which acknowledged Orozco as the provisional president, when he rebelled against Madero, assisted by Científico money.

After Madero’s murder, Orozco joined the standard of Huerta, who, true to his usual methods, tried to use Orozco’s influence with Zapata, to eliminate him. Orozco went to Morelos for the purpose of conferring with Zapata, but the wily Morelian had discovered that the meeting was not meant to bring peace, but to facilitate his capture and murder. As Orozco was not very brave, and his conscience not very clear, instead of going personally to the meeting, he sent instead his father and two other agents. As an answer to the contemplated plot, Zapata took Orozco’s father and his two agents as prisoners. Later they were found dead, after an attack by the Federals.

Orozco vowed vengeance, but he left Cuernavaca in great haste under the pretext of going North to fight the Constitutionalists, where he was defeated at every encounter. Any one who had read Mexican newspapers would have known how discredited Orozco’s personality was, but Zapata’s secretaries wanted a continuation of conditions wherein they would run the Morelian chief for their own benefit.

When Carranza arrived in Mexico City with the constitutionalist government, he sent two agents to Zapata, with power to settle the agrarian question in Morelos, once for all. The following letter by Gen. A. I. Villareal will show how Zapata’s secretaries spoiled the settlement.

MEXICO, Sept. 5th, 1914.

GENERAL EMILIANO ZAPATA:

Cuernavaca, Mor.

_Esteemed General_:

I had the pleasure of receiving the last letter, which you were kind enough to send through Mr. Reyes and in which you express the fact that you were to blame for the incident at Huitzilac. I must advise you that this matter was not one of much importance, and it seems that they gave you exaggerated reports of the same. What we consider a grave affair, and was really a sad one regarding which we went to consult you with the object of arriving at an agreement between the revolutionary elements of the North and the South, was the unjustified conduct and belligerent attitude of your secretary, Mr. Manuel Palafox, in respect to whom I intend to speak in this letter with the most absolute and honest frankness; believing in this way that I may do you a good turn, not alone yourself personally but also the cause of the well-being of the public which we must all defend and also the peace of the nation.

If you critically analyze the happenings which occurred during our visit in this city, and to which I beg to call your attention, you will discover in a moment that all the difficulties, all the petty misunderstandings, all the threats of war, emanated principally from Mr. Palafox supported by Mr. Serratos, who also in our opinion is carrying on work right in your office that is very far from being patriotic and loyal.

It is always the case that when various people come together to settle great or small differences which may exist between them, it is understood if they work in good faith and the matters treated of are thoroughly talked over, that some points are ceded by one party and some by the other party; there must be reciprocity in the arrangements, and a definite conclusion reached regarding the subject under discussion. To continue, conferences held with regard to any matter must not be reduced to the party on one side imposing a settlement and the parties on the other side accepting the same without discussing the propositions for and against and coming to a mutual agreement.

Unfortunately, in our case this which was the rational and just method of procedure did not take place, because as you will remember Mr. Palafox, who was the spokesman during the discussions almost prevented us from setting forth our side of the subject, and attempted to impose upon us certain conditions which would have to be accepted unconditionally as preliminaries before arriving at a resolution.

You will recollect that Mr. Palafox demanded as a first condition that as revolutionaries of the North we should accept without discussion the Plan of Ayala as the Supreme Law of the Republic, declaring that otherwise it would be impossible to treat of other matters.

This is in direct contradiction to your declarations, that you had no ambition for power; for in one of the clauses of the Plan of Ayala it states that General Pascual Orozco is recognized as leader of the revolution, and in case he is not able to discharge that task, you will be eligible; and as our complete submission to the Plan of Ayala is demanded it would intimate that we ought to place you in the position of the Supreme Chief of the Nation and in a more or less covert manner, you would be Provisional President of the Republic.

I believe in the sincerity of your words when you say that you have no ambition to command, that all you want is the settlement of the agrarian question and the economic betterment of the lower classes for which you have struggled so bravely. But back of this is Mr. Palafox, who has the ambition to rule, and who is desirous to see you raised to supreme power so that he may enjoy a privileged position in your office in his character of Secretary and Councillor. The same object animated Mr. Serratos more or less who also enjoys a certain amount of influence regarding your affairs, and doubtless awaits the auspicious moment of utilizing the same for his own benefit.

You will remember that Don Luis Cabrera and I set forth very clearly that we were authorized to accept essentially the Plan of Ayala; that is, the land question, the satisfaction of the popular needs, the betterment of the poor. We hereby declare that we agree fully with the principles set forth in the Plan of Ayala, and only desire that its form may be modified, and that there may be added to the gubernatorial programme which we might draw up some clauses relative to the needs of the Northern States and the States in the centre of the Republic, which are not in the same condition as those of the south. Messrs. Palafox and Serratos refused to accept our cordial and just propositions, and insisted in a blind, unquestionable, despotic manner that the Plan of Ayala be accepted, without the change of a word or a comma.

Convinced that the influence of Messrs. Palafox and Serratos over you would make sterile all our efforts for coming to an agreement in the form which we proposed, we declined to start a discussion which only might have served to embitter our souls and to give rise to more ill-feeling than what we suffered in the course of our conversation with you. For our part we found ourselves in a visibly hostile atmosphere, and we lacked the liberty necessary for the free expression of our opinions.

When Mr. Sarabia spoke with you for the first time, he wrote me stating that your attitude was cordial and that he saw that your propositions of peace were sincere. On the occasion of our meeting with you our surprise was great to find you different from what Mr. Sarabia had represented. This may be easily explained that the first time you spoke with Mr. Sarabia you were guided by your own impulses and by your good intentions, and the second time you were under the influence of the unhealthy machinations of Mr. Palafox.

The question then is reduced to the following facts: On our part the greatest and most sincere cordiality, the recognition of the justice of your cause, the acceptance of the principles of the plan of Ayala relating to the division of lands and the social betterment; on your part, good impulses, no ambition for power, and the exclusive desire for the welfare of the public; and on the part of Mr. Palafox and Mr. Serratos a spirit of intrigue that distorts the best intentions, ambitions for power in your hands with a view to thriving in your shadow, and a decided object of provoking war if their ambitions should not be satisfied.

Is not this sad, General Zapata? Is it not deeply to be lamented that all the patriotic efforts of honorable men shall go to pieces before the caprices of two intriguers? Is it not bitter and even shameful that a movement as great and unselfish as yours after four years of struggle should degenerate by reason of an instrument of vile ambition and in an ignoble weapon for bringing war a second time on a country already exhausted in its struggle for independence?

I make a supreme appeal to your honor, to your patriotism, to your love of the people, who would be in the last analysis those who would suffer most from a war, that you take into consideration what we said when we were with you, and which I again repeat in this letter, that we may arrive at a good understanding with the revolutionaries of the north and the south, who in reality are brothers.

We know that we have done all in our power to arrive at a peaceful solution, and if at length it might be found impossible to reach it, it will not be through our fault.

God grant that to-morrow I may not have to tell you that through attending to the intrigues of an ambitious party more than to the dictates of patriotism, you may be to blame for the beginning of a war which would be thoroughly unjustifiable, which no one wants and which would do no one any good!

I believe that after what I have said it is only necessary to add the following: That while Palafox continues at your side enjoying the influence that he does, it will be impossible for us to return to see you at Cuernavaca, nor for us to send other representatives, for we consider that we would not have, as we did not, the necessary liberty to treat with frankness and amplitude the transcendental subject which is under our discussion.

We would be very thankful to know that you had resolved to act independently of your harmful counsellor; and in such a case we consider that it would be easy enough to arrive at a settlement.

In place of Mr. Palafox you should be able to consult your principal chiefs, who have struggled faithfully for the cause, and you will surely find among them better standards and better counsel than from your ancient secretary.

I know that the majority of your chieftains hold Mr. Palafox in scant esteem and do not care for him; and if they have not so expressed themselves to you it has been perhaps through lack of opportunity or excess of discipline. Now it would be convenient that you consult them regarding this matter.

I trust, Mr. General, in your good judgment and sense of right, to kindly bear in mind with a spirit of serenity and justice what we have set before you, and unite your efforts to ours with a view to realizing the peace which our Republic needs so much, without lessening the agrarian ideals for which you have struggled for so long a time.

I am happy to sign myself,

Yours affectionate and loyal friend,
ANTONIO I. VILLARREAL.