Essay On Ana Maria

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Only known by her pseudonyms, Yolanda, and more popularly, Ana Maria; Ana Maria is a Tzotzil, born in Sabanilla, Chiapas in 1969, who dedicated her whole life to became infantry major of the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army). Tzotzil are an indigenous, Mayan people, who make up the largest amount of people in Chiapas. Ana Maria was raised to protest for indigenous autonomy and land reform with her family. Since the liberation of Mexico, land reform has been a reoccurring issue of revolution one result being Emilio Zapata ensuring the safeguarding of Indian communal land. The situation in Chiapas for indigenous families and farmers had gotten desperate. With most indigenous farmers losing their jobs after the fall of the coffee market, and an influx of Mayan farmers from Guatemala and El Salvador adding to their homeless problem; Ana Maria tried to bring attention to issues (Machado).
Since she was eight years old, Ana Maria had been politically active raising awareness about land reform, lack of schools and lack of healthcare in Chiapas, also becoming a nurse in her hometown. Her goals were to be published at the …show more content…

In 1989 the EZLN had over 1,300 members, thirty percent of which were women. Ana Maria encouraged young women to join as insurgents or militia of the EZLN and if not, to become part of the bases, which were collectives that supported the EZLN by providing food, activism, and supplies. In an interview about her influence in the EZLN, Ana Maria says, “They saw that I was a woman, and they saw that women can also do things. Women started to get together and organize themselves, and they started to join the ranks of the Army. And then other women did not join, but organized themselves into women's groups, women alone” (Machado). Major Ana Maria made women a key part of the EZLN by going town to town asking women what they want from the

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