An indigenous Mexican of Mixtec heritage, he moved to the United States to work as a migrant farm worker.
The movie is about two indigenous Mexicans who are mistakenly taken for government inspectors from the capital by the corrupt mayor of a small town.
Marcos wants the Mexican constitution changed to recognize the rights of the country's indigenous Mexicans.
One of the reasons for replacing the indigenous Mexicans was that millions of indigenous slaves died from smallpox brought by the Spanish.
The Zapatistas mounted an 1994 uprising demanding more justice and economic opportunity for indigenous Mexicans.
To escape this discrimination many indigenous Mexicans historically embraced Hispanic identity.
Violent attacks against indigenous Mexicans are moderately common and many times go unpunished.
As a result of the diseases brought by the Europeans, notably smallpox, native populations crashed, while Spanish colonial rule would subject indigenous Mexicans for three centuries.
Rarámuri is spoken by 70,000 or more indigenous Mexicans living in the state of Chihuahua.
While most indigenous Mexicans are at least nominally Catholic, some combine or syncretize Catholic practices with native traditions.