Subcomandante Elisa

Subcomandante Elisa (born María Gloria Benavides Guevara Elorriaga) is a female Zapatista activist who, before her arrest and the revelation of her identity, was a subcomandante in Mexico's Zapatista Army of National Liberation. She remains active within the Zapatista community and currently resides in Mexico City. She also teaches at the Zapatista Center for Mayan Languages in Oventic, Chiapas. She is married to Javier Elorriaga Berdeque.

Biography and activities

Benavides was born in the northern city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, probably sometime in January 1955. She joined the movement in her teens. She was first arrested in 1974, in a raid on a house. She was found alive, but next to her first husband's body. After her release she rejoined the movement only to lose her second husband and baby daughter in another military raid.

Early in the 1980s she was working as a translator with Catholic peasant in the small villages of Chiapas. She met Elorriaga when he joined the movement in the mid 1980s. Elorriaga fell in love with María and they were married. María took charge of training the native Mayans. Sometime in the early 1990s she moved to Mexico City, and worked from the university spreading political information on behalf of the EZLN. Sometime in 1993 she gave birth to her son.

In February 1994 she was arrested in connection with the Zapatista uprising, but later cleared of charges.

Today she and her husband continue to work on behalf of the natives of Chiapas.

Bibliography

• Breene, Robert (2003). Latin American Political Yearbook 2003. Latin American News Syndicate.
• Hayden, Tom (2002). The Zapatista Reader. New York: Avalon.
• Weinberg, Bill (2000). Homage to Chiapas. London: Verso.