Subcommander Marcos: The Man and the Mask

About the Book

Subcommander Marcos made his debut on the world stage on January 1, 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. At dawn, from a town-hall balcony he announced that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation had seized several towns in the Mexican state of Chiapas in rebellion against the government; by sunset Marcos was on his way to becoming the most famous guerrilla leader since Che Guevara. Subsequently, through a succession of interviews, communiquÉs, and public spectacles, the Subcommander emerged as a charismatic spokesperson for the indigenous Zapatista uprising and a rallying figure in the international anti-globalization movement.

In this, the first English-language biography of Subcommander Marcos, Nick Henck describes the thought, leadership, and personality of this charismatic rebel spokesperson. He traces Marcos’s development from his provincial middle-class upbringing, through his academic career and immersion in the clandestine world of armed guerrillas, to his emergence as the iconic Subcommander. Henck reflects on what motivated an urbane university professor to reject a life of comfort in Mexico City in favor of one of hardship as a guerrilla in the mountainous jungles of Chiapas, and he examines how Marcos became a conduit through which impoverished indigenous Mexicans could communicate with the world.

Henck fully explores both the rebel leader’s renowned media savvy and his equally important flexibility of mind. He shows how Marcos’s speeches and extensive writings demonstrate not only the Subcommander’s erudition but also his rejection of Marxist dogmatism. Finally, Henck contextualizes Marcos, locating him firmly within the Latin American guerrilla tradition.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xii
Abbreviations and Acronyms xv
Cast of Main Characters xix
Introduction 1
Part I: Rafael
1. Birth and Family 13
2. School Years 20
3. High School College 23
4. UNAM 29
5. The Gradate 42
Part II: Marcos the Guerilla
6. Chiapas 57
7. Guerilla Inception 65
8. The Wilderness Years 76
9. First Contact 82
10. Promotion and Expansion 88
11. A Jungle Wedding 107
12. An Election, Exponential Growth, and a Rift 112
13. Bust and Boom 124
14. Fallout 129
15. From the People’s Guerilla to a Guerilla People 133
16. Indigenous Indignation 143
17. An Internal Coup and the Road to War 163
Part III: Marcos the Star Spokesman
18. The Uprising 195
19. “Waging a Masterful Media War” 213
20. A Cease-Fire 221
21. The Cult of Marcos 226
22. Peace Talks 247
23. Courting Civil Society 253
24. The Elections and Their Aftermath 262
25. Marcos Unmasked and Rafael Revealed 278
26. Nationalizing and Internationalizing the Struggle 301
27. A March and a Massacre 315
28. Speedy Gonzalez Breaks the Silence 321
29. A Consulta, a Story, and a Strike 330
30. A Change of Government 336
31. The Zapatour 342
32. Marcos Today 353
Conclusion 361
Notes 369
Glossary 467
Works Cited 469
Index 487

About the Author :

Nick Henck is Visiting Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Keio University in Tokyo.

Review :
"Nick Henck's meticulous research and careful rendering of the myths and facts behind Subcommander Marcos's life and rise to prominence as a guerrilla leader and media darling is a major accomplishment in biography. This intriguing and insightful portrait of the man and his times will interest anyone seeking a greater understanding of recent Mexican politics."--Roderic Ai Camp, author of Politics in Mexico: The Democratic Consolidation "In this encyclopedic biography, Nick Henck draws on almost everything ever published on Subcommander Marcos. The result is an analysis that first highlights Marcos's intellectual and political formation prior to his entering the Lacandon jungle in late 1983, and then illuminates the Subcommander's unique cultural and political flexibility, which ultimately served to let the EZLN be directed by the priorities of the indigenous communities of Chiapas. As Henck points out, this flexibility is what distinguished Marcos from other twentieth-century guerrilla leaders; it was pivotal in permitting the EZLN to play a central role in the democratization of Mexico after seventy years of one-party rule. This is a valuable reference book for all those interested in a detailed account of the rise of Subcommander Marcos and the EZLN in Chiapas."--Lynn Stephen, author of Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California, and Oregon "This biography of Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente, better known as Subcomandante Marcos, is the product of thorough investigation of all kinds of records of the Zapatista movement in south-eastern Mexico, and as such should be welcomed by everyone interested in this rebellion. Author Nick Henck presents us with an almost complete background and history of the charismatic 'man with the mask' and attempts to analyse the reasons for his impact as a revolutionary leader. Henck's painstaking and exhaustive collection of everything that has been published about Marcos provides us with a book that answers almost all the questions one could think of about the history of the Zapatistas and its leader. It is only a pity that Henck never personally interviewed him. The author describes Rafael's youth, his family background, the years at school and at the UNAM (National University) and the UAM (Metropolitan University of Mexico), where he taught philosophy until he went to Chiapas in 1984. Year by year we are shown how the Indian villages were visited, how combatants were recruited, who was in charge of special tasks and what progress was made or what errors were committed. As such, this book is a Fundgrube for social scientists and journalists alike and is highly recommended."-- European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 84, April 2008