Mexico - Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR, PRA, PROCUP-PDLP)

When you're number two you try harder. Or kill faster. Unlike the laid-back, amiable, college-educated and Internet-savvy ranks of the Zapatistas, the EPR are some mean dudes. Marxist/Leninist/Maoist-mean, like the Shining Path and the PKK.

The EPR first showed up on June 28, 1996, when 80 masked men with automatic rifles announced their presence at a political rally in Guerrero state. They say they are made up of 14 organizations. Their 45-point wish list includes canceling foreign debt and nationalizing any U.S.-held interests. They did not discuss back end points and credit type size on movie deals. The government wrote them off as one-shots, the press scrambled (unsuccessfully) for witticisms and some people thought they were army stooges sent in to provide an excuse to send in government troops. Meanwhile, the tourists on the beach in Acapulco and shopping for silver in Oaxaca thought they might be in 1950s Cuba, but Club Med in Huatulco is a lot further than 90 miles to safety.

In September of '96, the EPR officially started a second uprising in Mexico by launching coordinated attacks in 5 of Mexico's 31 states. When it was over, scores were dead; an EPR ambush whacked 20 police officers. For now the EPR attacks government, military and police installations, and although their attacks take place in heavily touristed areas, they do not focus on attacking foreign travelers; they just want to scare off the turistas. Enterprising journalists, beware; the EPR did kill two security guards at a newspaper that refused to run their press release.

Popular Revolutionary Army Web Site

Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (EPR) and Partido Democratico Popular Revolucionario (PDPR)

http://www.pengo.it/PDPR-EDR/

http://www.xs4all.nl/~insurg

Info on Activities

http://www.eden.com/~tomzap/epr4.html