Military Periscope :: Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR)

Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR)

Group Name:

Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (EPR), or Popular Revolutionary Army.

Location/Area of Operation:

The EPR is a socialist revolutionary group that operates primarily in Mexico's southern states, including Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Stated Purpose:

The EPR’s primary aim is the overthrow of the Mexican government. The EPR says it is opposed to the accumulation of wealth and foreign economic influence in Mexican life. The group is modeled as a “popular” guerrilla movement that mixes some Marxism with armed action to further the supposed interests of rural populations, which the group considers to be ignored or oppressed by wealthy landowners.

The 1996 Manifesto of Aguas Blancas described in detail the EPR’s goals: overthrow of the government; restoration of popular sovereignty; solving the problems of the rural poor; just international relations; and punishment of political oppressors.

Strength:

The EPR has claimed 23,000 members, which is probably a significant exaggeration. The group may have around 2,000 members.

External Aid and Links:

Some EPR members likely joined the group after leaving other defunct insurgent organizations, such as the joint Revolutionary Clandestine Workers’ Union Party of the People and Party of the Poor (PROCUP-PDLP) and the Peasant Organization of the South Sierra.

Most funding for EPR comes from kidnapping wealthy businessmen for ransom. In one notorious 1994 incident, involving banker Alfredo Harp Helu, a reported ransom of $30 million was paid. EPR sympathizers also contribute some funds.

Some analysts have alleged cooperation between EPR and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), noting their similar socialist ideologies and shared support from indigenous populations. However, group leaders have denied such ties. The Mexican government accused the EPR of receiving support from Peru's Maoist Shining Path group, though the evidence of such connections are unclear. The Shining Path is thought to have advised a number of Mexican guerrillas in the early 1990s.

There are ties between the Juarez and Guadalajara drug cartels and the EPR. In 2002, the cartels were found to be providing the guerrilla group with crates of weapons left from Cold-War conflicts in return for protection of poppy fields and security services.

Activities:

The EPR targets government authorities, such as police and security forces, public buildings and utilities. Operations are usually hit-and-run, with only a few attackers. Two attacks have involved 50 or more fighters.

Offensive operations are constrained by the lack of extensive armament and equipment. The EPR has some assault weapons, such as AR-15s, AK-47s and submachine guns, as well as some rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Overview:

The EPR emerged as a Mexican guerrilla group in the mid-1990s. The killing of 17 peasant activists in Guerrero state in Coyuca de Benitez in June of 1995 – an event captured on film – provided the impetus for the creation of EPR. Fourteen separate guerrilla groups banded together under the leadership of Commandante Jose Arturo to form the EPR. The newly formed group began attacking police forces in several states in the summer of 1996.

The united EPR aimed to combat what it saw as domination by Mexico’s wealthy and “foreign capital” interests in the country. A Partido Democratico Popular Revolucionario (PDPR), or the Democratic Popular Revolutionary Party, served as a political arm for the EPR and published the guerrilla group’s pronouncements.

In 1996, the EPR dispelled rumors that it was a government-created hoax or a front for another guerrilla group. In August, the EPR assaulted police forces in six different states, leaving 13 dead. The Mexican government responded by deploying two airborne battalions to Guerrero state and three military battalions to Oaxaca. Federal authorities arrested and jailed 85 suspected EPR collaborators.

The group’s support grew in 1997 and 1998, as a result of publicity campaigns, rallies and international press coverage. Government efforts to clamp down on EPR took a hit in 1998, when army forces engaged in a six-hour gunfight with several dozen residents at a local school in El Charco. Following the gun battle, it turned out that those involved had no connection to the EPR.

In the late 1990s, the EPR began to splinter into several groups and subgroups. This divisiveness, more than government counterinsurgency operations, retarded EPR’s ability to conduct militant operations. Little was heard from the group in the early 2000s.

Successor organizations to the EPR continued sporadic, small-scale attacks in Mexico’s southern regions. Splinter groups included the Insurgent People’s Revolutionary Army, Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People (FARP) as well as other smaller groups. The ideologies of these successor organizations were quite consistent with that of the EPR.

EPR attacks surged in 2006 and 2007, perhaps in an attempt to take advantage of the contested presidential election. Bombings by the group in July of 2007 succeeded in damaging two major gas pipelines in Guanajuato state and near Queretaro. These attacks marked a significant boost in the group's capabilities.

Bombings in September 2007 damaged six more pipelines and prompted the evacuation of 15,000 people from nearby towns. The state-owned oil company, Pemex, was forced to shut down four pipelines and massively increase security around the remaining pipelines. Since these attacks, the EPR has been relatively quiet.

Group Chronology:

1996
June 28: The EPR announced its formation in the Manifesto of Aguas Blancas during a memorial service for 17 citizens killed by police in Guerrero state in 1995. The EPR accused the government of being “anti-popular” and “anti-democratic.” The group promised an armed struggle against domination by Mexico’s wealthy and “foreign capital.”

Aug. 28: U.S. State Dept. cables reported that EPR forces attacked police stations, military posts and public buildings in Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas. Casualties included 14 dead and 20 wounded.

Oct. 30-31: The EPR attacked government forces in Guerrero, Mexico and Oaxaca states.

1998
Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo Insurgente (ERPI) broke off from EPR.

August: The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias del Pueblo (FARP) splintered from EPR. (Some sources say the split occurred in mid-1999.)

August: The Revolutionary Villista Army of the People (EVRP) also broke away from EPR.

November: EPR forces sealed off the village of Atoyac de Alvarez and cut electric and telephone lines. During the ensuing attack on the local police station, one army officer and two EPR members were killed.

1999
June: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias del Pueblo, FARP) was founded. FARP adheres more closely to a Marxist-oriented ideology than do some other EPR factions.

2000
EPR continued to splinter into several different factions and sub-factions. This included the creation of an alternative EPR wing, the Revolutionary Democratic Tendency, or EPR-TDR.

December: President Vicente Fox offered amnesty to the EPR as part of an effort to reduce violence in southern Mexico.

2001
March: Another EPR splinter group was formed -- the Group of Guerilla Combatants of Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon (Coordinadora Guerrillera Nacional Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, CGNJMMP). The CGNJMMP served as an umbrella organization for the Clandestine Revolutionary Committee of the Poor, CCRP-CJ; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People, FARP; and the Villista Revolutionary Army of the People, EVRP. All three sub-factions are based in Guererro state.

2002
The EPR was reported to be providing protection for the drug cartels’ poppy fields in return for weapons.

2006
November: Government officials said the EPR was responsible for the bombing of a department store in Mexico City. A bomb in a bank blamed on the EPR was disarmed. Police also accused the group of encouraging mass protests in Oaxaca.

2007
May 25: Two EPR members were arrested in Oaxaca.

July 5-10: The quiescent EPR (along with several other groups) resurfaced dramatically and claimed responsibility for several explosions in Mexico. EPR bombed 36-inch natural gas pipelines in Guanajuato and Queretaro states on July 5 and July 10. The EPR, along with other guerrillas groups, said it had placed eight bombs along pipelines, at least three of which exploded. A communique from EPR said the bombings were part of a “national campaign of harassment against the interests of the oligarchy and of this illegitimate government that has been put in motion.”

The guerrilla outfits claiming responsibility for the bombings included the Lucio Cabanas Barrientos Revolutionary Movement, MR-LCB; EPR-TDR; Insurgent Organization-May 1; Dec. 2 Execution Brigade; and the Popular Liberation Brigades.

July 28: Armed EPR insurgents fired shots at a federal prison under construction in Chiapas state. No injuries were reported.

Aug. 2: The EPR claimed responsibility for two bombs that exploded in the southern city of Oaxaca.

Sep. 10: The EPR set off explosions at six oil and natural gas pipelines in Veracruz and Tlaxcala states. The group vowed to continue attacks until the release of two members EPR claims were detained by Mexican authorities in Oaxaca. The Interior Ministry said it had no record of such prisoners.

2008
Jan. 15: The EPR announced that it would warn the government before any more attacks to avoid killing bystanders.

April 29: The EPR offered a cease-fire in return for the creation of a commission to mediate its dispute with the Mexican government. The offer was rejected.

Last Updated:

January 2009