Guerrillas In the Mist
You may have heard about the pipeline bombings in Veracruz. Numerous news sources state that the EPR, the Popular Revolutionary Army, claims responsibility for the attacks. There are several things to take into consideration here.
Many people agree that the EPR has not had the strength to carry out attacks such as these. Since their first appearance in 1996, though, the government has publicly downplayed their size and strength while simultaneously sending more troops to the areas where they are prevalent. Recently, two members of the EPR were taken into custody by the Mexican army. When the President asked for the activists, they had mysteriously disappeared. It is assumed that they have been killed. If the EPR is responsible for the attacks, it is in retaliation for the disappearance of the group’s members.
Some people believe that while this group is not strong enough to have done the attacks, with a little help from drug traffickers, it could be done. Before we jump to conclusions, we need to understand Mexico. It’s easy for us to draw a line between the “rebels” like drug traffickers and guerrillas and the Government. But the real world is not so clear cut. Here, government officials are the drug traffickers. So carrying out an attack against the State is like attacking one’s self, one’s own source of income. It just doesn’t make much sense.
There’s another theory out there prominent in the Leftist circles. This theory suggests that President Calderon is in desperate need of a crisis to be able to defend his surge in troops throughout Mexico. People from all political parties agree that his militarization of rural areas has been a disaster. International human rights organizations agree that the army has no place playing preventative police. There are a host of disappearances, rapes, tortures and murders to support that claim. This attack would be a good way to plant fear and vulnerability in the Mexican population and then be able to send in all the troops he wants and make them immune to any legal action, a la President Bush.
Whether these acts were done by the government or a guerrilla activist group, they speak volumes about the current political situation in Mexico and, in particular, in Veracruz. We are facing a situation in which people are angry and they are not lowering their heads and accepting the situation anymore. They are looking for ways to make themselves heard. Calderon’s heavy hand approach to drug trafficking is only making the situation more violent and more out of control.
If the EPR is responsible, there will no doubt be more attacks to follow.
Source: LA Times