In the same year, he traveled to Mexico to learn the techniques of the great muralist Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco and studied at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, at La Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes La Esmeralda and the workshop of Siqueiros.

His paintings have been exhibited in many solo expositions, among them "Todo el museo para Zapata" at the Sofía Ímber Museum of Contemporary Art in 1975.

In 1992 he was in charge of designing the image of the Latin American Film Festivals at Biarritz, France and Trieste in Italy and in 1999 he finished an enormous mural of 1,500m² entitled "Conductores de Venezuela" that adorns the northern edge of the Central University of Venezuela, next to the Francisco Fajardo Highway, and represents historical Venezuelan leaders driving all kinds of vehicles.

One of Zapata's daily cartoons in the newspaper El Nacional became the subject of heavy criticism in Aló Presidente, the weekly TV program of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, in the year 2000 because of Zapata's view on the transformation of Venezuelan civil society into a military society caused by some of the policies implemented by Chávez at the time, like appointing in government offices numerous ex-military officers and an education plan incorporating military training in all high schools of the country.

The ceremony was hosted by Laureano Márquez, Claudio Nazoa, Graterolacho, Oscar Yanes, Cayito Aponte, Rubén Monasterios and Otrova Gomas.