NAFTA: Economic Intervention and Zapatista Uprising

NAFTA took effect January 1, 1994—the same day the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) launched an uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, declaring NAFTA a 'death sentence' for indigenous communities. NAFTA's agricultural provisions devastated small Mexican farmers unable to compete with US subsidized corn, contributing to mass migration north. NAFTA also required Mexico to privatize state industries and liberalize capital flows.