Puppetista is a word coined in 2000 by a group of puppeteers who make and use puppets in street theater and political demonstrations. Formed by combining the words "puppet" and Zapatista, the term originated in the Northeastern United States and quickly picked up use in the South, Midwest and on the West Coast of the United States, as well as in Mexico, Cuba and Brazil, to describe a social movement of revolutionary artists and their work.