The Legacy of Mesoamerica History and Culture of a Native American Civilization, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 10 THE MAYAN ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT 405

Figure 10.3 A Zapatista serigraph that

symbolizes the indigenous and

nationalist goals of the Movement.

(Courtesy of Gary H. Gossen.)

proudly raises an indigenous staff of authority (nota gun) that is sprouting a native
jungle leaf. The surrounding ambiance is also jungle vegetation; even the signature
Zapatista mask (worn by the subject) is of vegetal jungle origin. The red bromeliad
leaf that forms the mask merges on the guerrilla subject’s left hand into the red fab-
ric of an unfurled Mexican flag, with its well-known eagle/serpent/nopal cactus
motif shown in the white field. The green section of the tricolor flag is made up of
the jungle leaf sprouting from the subject’s staff of authority.
Even though the piece speaks eloquently for itself, we note that the autochtho-
nous origins of the Mexican nation and the Zapatista movement, together with the
Zapatistas’ desired organic integration with the Mexican national idea, are all un-
ambiguously portrayed here. Entirely composed in the hues of the tricolor of the
Mexican flag, the generic Zapatista subject seems to embody the links between
the natural, the magical, the political, the social, and the heroic that also embody the
Mexican nation.