The Mexican state of Chiapas, Mexico, bordering Guatemala, faces an intense and underreported conflict involving the Mexican government, government-aligned paramilitaries, cartels, and the EZLN or Zapatista movement (WordPress). Chiapas, home to one of the largest indigenous populations of the country -26% of the state’s inhabitants -is also an epicenter for about half of all unresolved land conflicts going on in Mexico (ACLED).
The EZLN or Zapatista movement, rose in 1994 against NAFTA and exploitation of indigenous communities and workers, redistributing land to peasantries (Schools for Chiapas 1). This resistance clashes with state-backed megaprojects, paramilitary conflict, and cartel expansion, all contributing to 16,755 reportedly displaced between 2010 and 2022 (Frayba). The Sinaloa and CJNG (Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación), and occasionally Los Zetas, all battle over Chiapas complicating the situation (InSight Crime 1; WordPress) Rich in resources but permeated with inequality, Chiapas is home to at least 1.1 million Indigenous people and is one of the richest Mexican states in natural resources (Australian Institute for International Affairs. The EZLN movement has undergone several ideological campaigns, but their primary ideology is planted in left-wing, environmentalist, and feminist policies that have seen evolution from the founding Zapatista Women’s Revolutionary Laws to the 2005 and 2007 “Other Campaigns” (JSTOR/Schools for Chiapas 2).
The Mexican state’s response includes alliances with paramilitary groups, local landowners, cattle barons, and caciques- contributing to cycles of violence pronounced during the 2008 and 2011 U.S. and Mexican war on drugs (FreedomNews; School for Chiapas 1). The Mexican government’s response to the Zapatistas, marked by deepened militarization and neo-developmentalist policies since the Chiapas Campaign Plan of the 1990s and 2000s, is reflected in a 60.5% increase in Armed Forces funding between 2007 and 2022, followed by a 32.6% increase in extortion, a 36.5% increase in drug dealing, and 7.4% increase in femicides from 2018 to 2021 (Frayba). The interplay of these groups and government complicity with paramilitaries and cartels sustains this spiral of violence in Chiapas (Frayba).
Neo-developmentalist megaprojects like the Mayan Train and Trans-Isthmus Corridor, framed as economic progress, are seen by the Zapatistas as tools of territorial corporatism that endanger local communities and fuel violence (Radio Zapatista 1). They would again denounce this project in August 2024, highlighting these two projects as “commercial corridors” for the increased protection rackets and subsequent violence reaped on the local communities attributed to transnational corporate interests (School for Chiapas, 3). The Zapatistas, although relatively quiet in force, have been vocal through their websites and proxies, outwardly denouncing these megaprojects such as mining projects in 2016, fossil fuel and energy projects in 2025, and highway projects in 2025 (Radio Zapatista 2,3,4). In Chiapas, drug trafficking, violence, and disappearances have worsened, with curfews and armed attacks affecting entire communities while criminal groups have expanded, strengthening ties with government and business interests (Frayba).
The region has seen increased waves of displacements— the largest since the 1990s— resurfacing paramilitaries that haven’t been active since the 1990s like Paz y Justicia (TruthDig). Reports surfacing as early as 2016 highlight the rise in local and municipal elections of Paz y Justicia, Anti-Zapatista Indigenous Revolutionary Movement (MIRA), Los Diablos, Los Gómez and Los Petules, amongst others who have been linked to drug trafficking (WordPressThe Zapatista response has been vocal, including several protests and a September 2021 announcement declaring that Chiapas was “on the verge of civil war,” citing instigation by narcotrafficking gangs and widespread harassment, kidnappings, and unrest—all allegedly enabled by government funding and collusion (Radio Zapatista 5). Government responses have been largely ineffective, marked by inaction, superficial measures, and insufficient aid amid food and health crises (Frayba).
Cartels like CJNG who would surge in hostility against the Sinaloa cartel in 2021, increasingly dominate Chiapas, turning it into a smuggling hub for drugs and migrants and forcing communities and businesses to face extortion (Insight Crime 1). These drug and human smuggling routes have been noted as extremely profitable, with more than half of all refugee requests in Mexico made in Chiapas in addition to the local business owners being extorted for protection and increased organized violence to exert control over specific territories (InSight Crime 1). The original conflict has expanded into resource exploitation and intensified cartel activity, forcing local communities— often held hostage— to collaborate with narcotrafficking groups for protection against paramilitaries, under threats of violence, kidnapping, and targeting of skilled workers (WordPress; InSight Crime 2). The operations of the infamous Los Zetas cartel have been largely influential in the Chiapas region- especially regarding migrant trafficking (WordPress). Los Zetas are a Mexican cartel whose soldiers originated in special force divisions made during the 1990s Chiapas Campaign Plan and would develop the connection between the origins of this violence and pronouncement of cartel violence (Borderland Beat).
Indigenous communities face climbing murder rates, with an average of four homicides per week and 40% of all indigenous-targeted killing going on in Chiapas (Frayba). Human rights defenders and journalists are also targets— 107 UN human rights defenders were killed in 2019, and 260 journalists were murdered from 2006 to 2022 in Mexico (Frayba). This context illustrates a conflict rooted in overlapping state, cartel, and corporate structures with major consequences for local communities and larger regional stability
Works Cited:
Schools for Chiapas:
- Schools for Chiapas 1, https://schoolsforchiapas.org/teach-chiapas/zapatista-timeline/
- Schools for Chiapas 2, https://schoolsforchiapas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Zapatista-Womens-Revolutionary-Laws.pdf
- Schools for Chiapas 3, https://schoolsforchiapas.org/ezln-denounces-cartels-clash-in-chiapas-over-protection-racket-for-mayan-train-and-trans-isthmus-corridor/
Radio Zapatista:
- Radio Zapatista 1, https://radiozapatista.org/?p=44492&lang=en
- Radio Zapatista 2, https://radiozapatista.org/?p=19051&lang=en
- Radio Zapatista 3, https://radiozapatista.org/?p=50188&lang=en
- Radio Zapatista 4, https://radiozapatista.org/?p=50199&lang=en
- Radio Zapatista 5, https://radiozapatista.org/?p=39564&lang=en
Insight Crime:
- InSight Crime 1, https://insightcrime.org/news/behind-criminal-conflict-raging-chiapas-mexico/
- InSight Crime 2, https://insightcrime.org/news/warring-criminal-groups-are-targeting-civilians-in-chiapas-mexico/
Other Sources:
- Word Press, https://dorsetchiapassolidarity.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/narco-zetas-and-paramilitaries-the-new-reality-in-chiapas/?utm
- ACLED, https://acleddata.com/2024/05/29/mexicos-land-and-elections-feuds-threaten-political-figures-in-oaxaca-and-chiapas/
- Frayba, https://radiozapatista.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Informe-Frayba-2023_Chiapas-un-desastre.pdf
- Australian Institute for International Affairs, https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/news-item/the-zapatista-movement-the-fight-for-indigenous-rights-in-mexico/
- JSTOR, “Zapatista Anticapitalist Politics and the ‘Other Campaign’”, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27648010?seq=1
- Freedom News, https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/08/19/explainer-new-zapatista-autonomy/
- Truth Dig, https://www.truthdig.com/articles/paramilitary-resurgence-displaces-thousands-in-chiapas/
8. Borderland Beat, https://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/04/origins-of-los-zetas-and-its-founders.html