Popular Revolutionary Army in the context of AR-15 style rifle

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (Spanish pronunciation: [eɾˈnesto seˈðiʝo]; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was the 61st president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Father of Modern Democracy in Mexico, his non-interventionist policy yielded transparent results on the 2000 Mexican general election.

During his presidency, he faced one of the worst economic crises in Mexico's history, which started only weeks after taking office. While he distanced himself from his predecessor Carlos Salinas de Gortari, blaming his administration for the crisis, and overseeing the arrest of Salinas' brother Raúl Salinas de Gortari, he continued the neoliberal policies of his two predecessors. His administration was also marked by renewed clashes with the EZLN and the Popular Revolutionary Army; the controversial implementation of Fobaproa to rescue the national banking system; a political reform that allowed residents of the Federal District (Mexico City) to elect their own mayor; the privatization of national railways and its subsequent suspension of the passenger rail service; and the Aguas Blancas and Acteal massacres perpetrated by State forces.

The Aguas Blancas Massacre was a massacre that took place on 28 June 1995, in the municipality of Coyuca de Benítez, Guerrero, Mexico, in which, according to the official version, 17 farmers were killed and 21 injured. Members of the Organización Campesina de la Sierra Sur (South Mountain Range Farmer Organization) were en route to Atoyac de Álvarez to attend a protest march demanding the release of Gilberto Romero Vázquez, a peasant activist arrested more than a month before (and who has never appeared since). They were also marching to demand drinking water, schools, hospitals and roads, among other things. According to survivors, they were ambushed by the motorized police and several were shot point blank. Some of the events were captured on film, by the police themselves. Weapons were subsequently placed in the dead farmers' hands and the police said they acted in self-defense.

One of the results of this incident was the creation of the Popular Revolutionary Army, a leftist guerrilla organization.