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A performer dressed as Zapata participates in festivities in Chinameca, Morelos. Photo credit: Ryan Mallett-Outtrim.

As one of the major figures of Mexico’s 1910-1920 civil war, Zapata led a southern faction that demanded greater rights and an end to the exploitation of campesinos – a broad term used to describe agricultural labourers, small-plot farmers and the rural poor. Centred around the state of Morelos, Zapata’s faction demanded the dismantling of large estates, along with land redistribution to the poor under the slogan, “tierra y libertad” (land and liberty).