Is There a New Emiliano Zapata or Pancho Villa to Lead Mexico's Disenchanted? Tim Johnson - McClatchy
go to original December 10, 2014

A protester wearing a mask of the kind used by anonymous "hacktivists" holds up a sign calling for the removal of Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto. In the background, marchers fill the capital's main boulevard in Mexico City. (Tim Johnson/McClatchy)

One hundred years ago this week, an epic moment unfolded in Mexico City: The revolutionaries Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa rode into the capital on horseback, trailed by their respective peasant armies.

Today, just as a century ago, the country again is gripped by widespread discontent. A growing number of Mexicans complain of corrupt and incompetent rule. Protests and rallies unfold weekly, often more frequently.

Only today, there is no charismatic rebel leader at the fore, neither a Zapata nor a Villa. Without leadership, observers say, the Mexican Spring may end as a fizzle, more Occupy Wall Street than Mexican Revolution, Chapter Two.

Fernando Gamboa Quezada, an economics professor at Mexico’s largest university, peered Saturday from the steps of the Angel of Independence, the iconic obelisk along the capital’s principal boulevard, as marchers clogged downtown in another protest, timed to coincide with the anniversary of Zapata and Villa’s arrival.

“There is a lot of discontent in the country,” he said. “The farmers, the students, the teachers and, I believe, even the government workers are unhappy. Corruption is rampant.”

The last straw for many Mexicans has been the way President Enrique Peña Nieto has handled a probe into the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teachers college in Guerrero state. The students went missing Sept. 26, when police allegedly rounded them up and turned them over to a criminal gang for mass execution.

Read the rest at The Bellingham Herald

Zapata and Villa celebrated 100 years on this week in Mexico City (RuptlyTV)

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