Popular Revolutionary Army - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Popular Revolutionary Army or Ejército Popular Revolucionario is a leftist guerrilla

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

movement in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. Though it operates mainly in the state of Guerrero

Guerrero

Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....

, it has also conducted operations in Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

, Chiapas

Chiapas

Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...

, Guanajuato

Guanajuato

Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....

, Tlaxcala

Tlaxcala

Tlaxcala officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala is one of the 31 states which along with the Federal District comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and its capital city is Tlaxcala....

and Veracruz

Veracruz

Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

.

The EPR announced its existence on June 28, 1996 at the commemoration of the Aguas Blancas massacre

Aguas Blancas massacre

The Aguas Blancas Massacre was a massacre that took place on 28 June 1995, in Aguas Blancas, Guerrero, Mexico, in which, according to the official version, seventeen farmers were killed and 21 injured...

one year earlier. Dozens of rebels, carrying AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, declared war against the Mexican government and read aloud the "Aguas Blancas Manifesto", as well as firing 17 shots into the air to pay respect to the 17 who died in the massacre.

Political ideology

The Popular Revolutionary Army has a fairly Maoist ideology, and advocates socialist

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

peasant revolution. Subcomandante Marcos

Subcomandante Marcos

Subcomandante Marcos is the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation , a Mexican rebel movement. In January 1994, he led an army of Mayan farmers into the eastern parts of the Mexican state of Chiapas protesting against the Mexican government's treatment of indigenous...

has distanced the EZLN from the EPR in his communiqués, largely because of the EPR activities in the state of Chiapas in the midst of peace talks in 1996 and 1997. The EPR though still asserts its support of the Zapatistas.

The Popular Revolutionary Army has founded a militarized political party, the Popular Revolutionary Democratic Party, or Partido Democrático Popular Revolucionario. The group often signs its communiqués "PDPR-EPR," combining the Spanish initials of the army and the party. However, the Popular Revolutionary Democratic Party does not function in the political world independent of the Popular Revolutionary Army; the party does not appear on ballots in any local or federal elections.

1990s

June 28, 1996: After the reading of the "Aguas Blancas Manifesto" by "Captain Emiliano", guerrillas engaged police in a fire fight near the Guerrero capital of Chilpancingo

Chilpancingo

Chilpancingo de los Bravo is the capital and second-largest city of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. It is located at . In the 2005 census the population of the city was 166,796. Its surrounding municipality, of which it is municipal seat, had a population of 214,219 persons...

, wounding several policemen and one civilian.

July 2, 1996: An EPR communiqué warns of "imminent" armed clashes with the army and police, this in response to the massive military presence in the area. Military intelligence concludes the EPR to be a genuine force, better equipped and organized than the EZLN.

July 17, 1996: An attack on an army patrol in the southwest of Guerrero wounds several soldiers and kills one civilian. Two weeks later an ambush on Navy patrolmen leaves another wounded.

August 7, 1996: EPR snipers kill one soldier and wound several others. The EPR general command give a press interview the same day. On August 25, the rebels claim to have killed 59 soldiers since June 28.

August 28 and 29: The largest assault so far, exceeding public and government conceptions about the group's strength. A coordinated multistate attack hits army, police and government targets in Oaxaca

Oaxaca

, Guerrero

Guerrero

, Puebla

Puebla

Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....

and the Federal District, killing 18 and wounding more than two dozen. The EPR claims 41 dead and 48 wounded. Guerrilla forces also blocked roads in Chiapas

Chiapas

to distribute pamphlets and seized a radio station in Tabasco

Tabasco

Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....

.

May 1997: Two engagements left 5 soldiers and 4 guerrillas dead.

2000s

July 2007: EPR claimed responsibility for several attacks against Pemex

Pemex

Petróleos Mexicanos or Pemex is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. As of 2010, with a total asset worth of $415.75 billion, it is the second non-publicly listed largest company in the world by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009...

oil facilities in the Bajío

Bajío

The Bajío is a region of Central Mexico that includes the plains south of the Sierra de Guanajuato, in the state of Guanajuato, as well as parts of the states of Querétaro and Michoacán .In general parlance, it is usually associated with the States of Guanajuato and Querétaro, although it only...

region and stated that the attacks would continue until two of its members were released. The government denies responsibility for the disappearance of these 2 members.http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/203823.html

August 1, 2007: EPR also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a Sears

Sears Mexico

Sears Roebuck de México is a department store chain located in Mexico, operating more than 55 stores all over Mexico. Sears México is operated by Grupo Carso...

store in Oaxaca

Oaxaca

, there was some damage but no injuries. On the same day the EPR also claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing of a Banamex bank branch also in Oaxaca

Oaxaca

.

September 10, 2007: Pemex

Pemex

reported explosions due to sabotage on several pipelines located in the key energy producing state of Veracruz

Veracruz

and further inland in Tlaxcala

Tlaxcala

. According to reports, there were six explosions targeting pipelines carrying natural gas, propane, and crude oil. The effects of the explosions were so severe that they caused the evacuation of over 20,000 people from the area. The explosions caused millions of dollars in damages to Pemex equipment. Additionally, it is estimated the explosions cost the Mexican economy $100 million a day as over 2,500 businesses were effected and 60% of Mexico's steel industry was shuttered. On September 11, 2007 the EPR claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Mexican government reaction

Following the July 2007 pipeline attacks, President Calderón deployed 5,000 special troops to secure the pipelines, along with dams and power plants. These troops began regular patrols of the region both on the ground and in the air. However, Pemex has 60,000 km of pipeline so it will be difficult to secure the pipelines from saboteurs.

Shortly after the September pipeline attacks, the Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional

Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional

Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional is a Mexican intelligence agency controlled by the Office of Coordination of the Presidency. CISEN was established in 1989 after its predecessors ceased to operate...

(Mexican intelligence service) leaked a report stating that Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

's President Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

was believed to be supporting the EPR with materials, armament, and training.

Mexican magazine Contralínea has denounced that at least 21 members of the EPR have gone missing apparently after being kidnapped by government forces since the arrival to power of incumbent President Calderón. These disappearances of political activists are not restricted to the EPR but also to many others independent activists. The government claims they are caused by narcotraffic gang disputes .

Suspected members

Edmundo Reyes, a shop-keeper from Mexico City who is believed to be one of the leaders of the EPR. He went missing in May 2007 and it is believed that his disappearance sparked the recent pipeline bombing campaign.
Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez, the other member of EPR who went missing in May with Edmundo Reyes.
Tiburcio Cruz Sanchez
Emiliana Contreras, wife of Tiburcio Sanchez

External links

Official web site of PDPR-EPR
http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/bunker/5061/&date=2009-10-26+00:27:08 Current communiques, articles
http://www.cedema.org/uploads/Eperrista.pdf The most complete book about the EPR, in Spanish, by David Pavón Cuéllar and María Luisa Vega, with interviews, history...
http://www.estesur.com/comunicados.jsp Online archive and current communiques
http://www.pdpr-epr.org/ — Webpage hosts communiqués from the Ejército Popular Revolucionario in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6290222.stm Mexico rebels claim oil attacks
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/world/americas/12mexico.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fMexico&oref=slogin NY Times Analysis of the EPR's reactivation

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Political ideology

1990s

2000s

Mexican government reaction

Suspected members

See also

External links