How was the assassination of Emiliano Zapata and who ordered it

Emiliano Zapata, known as El Caudillo del Sur, was one of the great symbols of peasant resistance during the Mexican Revolution. He lost his life in 1919, during a military ambush where he was killed after a long persecution by the constitutionalists, who faced the magnificent espionage system and great knowledge of the southern army's terrain.

The assassination of Zapata required great strategy, as the revolutionary chief became extremely suspicious after several assassination attempts against him, by well-known characters of the time, such as Victoriano Huerta, who set him up in 1911. Biographers of the famous leader of the Southern Liberation Army point out that there was a rumor that the revolutionary had a double who replaced him in his public appearances.

Zapata's alleged double, “which was like his cartoon”, had a notoriously smaller build and lacked the signs that characterized the leader, was sent to city journalists. This ruse, together with the Zapatista strategy of avoiding encounters considered dangerous, complicated the mission of Pablo González, a constitutionalist general who was entrusted with the disappearance of the leader of the southern army.

González's military forces occupied the main points of the state of Morelos, when the opportunity arose to ambush the Caudillo del Sur. To achieve the ambush, the head of the Oriente division circulated the news that Colonel Jesús M. Guajardo had received a strong warning from him, that the incident would reach the ears of Zapata, who had previously offered enemy soldiers to defect and join his side.

Thus, as expected, the peasant leader invited Guajardo to join the rebels of the south. Pablo González, who later ordered Colonel Jesús Guajardo to accept the invitation and a few days before the assassination, sent him with an armed group to join Emiliano Zapata in an apparent rebellion against the government of Venustiano Carranza.

As proof of loyalty, the false deserter from the constitutionalist movement took the Plaza de Jonacatepec, occupied at that time by the division of the east. However, the confidence of the revolutionary leader of the south did not last long, because when he was alerted to the betrayal he invited Guajardo to a dinner that would serve as an ambush.

At first, the colonel rejected the Southern Caudillo's proposal on the grounds that he had a severe stomach ache. However, in order not to arouse further suspicion, he agreed to eat with him the next day and invited several men loyal to Zapata for a beer, who accepted in order to get him drunk.

Guajardo, aware that he was in the sights of his opponents, feigned drunkenness and insisted that Emiliano Zapata accompany him to drink. After much insistence, the leader of the Southern Liberator Army agreed and on April 10, 1919 he showed up with his entourage at the Hacienda de Chinameca, where a group of trusted men belonging to the opposite side was already deployed.

Emiliano Zapata arrived riding a magnificent horse that Guajardo gave him, accompanied by Gil Muñoz, Zeferino Ortega, Jesús Capistrán and their escort. He was received by false troop officers, who were instructed to give the signal to open fire on him and so, at the first clarion ring, they shot down the revolutionary and his entourage.

When Zapata fell, his body was immediately lifted by soldiers of the 50th Regiment. Meanwhile, inside the house, Guajardo and Captain Salgado were drinking beer, accompanied by the three Zapatista chiefs who died in combat after discovering what was happening.

Emiliano Zapata was buried on April 12, 1919 in the Pantheon of the city of Cuautla, Morelos. Pablo González, the mastermind of his murder, was present, as well as numerous officers and people from the town.

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