BootsnAll Travel Network



Mexico’s Pipe Bombs

My expat friend in Oaxaca says “an opinion piece by Ricardo Rocha and published in the Oaxaca Noticias on Friday the 14th of September, has a few points I think worth calling to the attention of people outside of Oaxaca. Rocha points out that if the guerrilla group Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR), a small, rural-based Marxist guerrilla group that had been inactive for years, after a series of spectacular attacks on police in 1996, explodes oil pipelines, it is not a small casual act to be sloughed off with a shrug. The EPR has opted for armed revolution. The EPR resurfaced last year amid the civil unrest that shook the capital city of Oaxaca state, where protesters over many months paralysed the city and demanded the ouster of the governor. At that time, the EPR claimed responsibility for several bank bombings in Mexico City.

Despite URO (governor) saying “no pasa nada”, a lot is happening. Those of us here can see the state is in chaos, held together mainly by armed local and federal police. But the federal investigation units cannot foresee or control the guerrilla attacks which grow more sophisticated.

Rocha accepts that URO is responsible for the two EPR people who were disappeared last month. He refers to a return of the dirty war, which human rights activists here say is not a return but a continuation of government tactics employed since the seventies.

Meanwhile, Rocha points out, nobody is paying attention to the structural causes of rebellion. The APPO, we know, is non-violent, but the EPR has no such commitment, nor, I think do other groups around the nation. Rocha refers to Explosive Mexico, not just Explosive Oaxaca. He refers to the extremes of poverty, destitution of populations and communities, children suffering with parasites, bloated bellies , etcetera —while the political and business elite increase their already elevated salaries and perks.

And to add fuel to the fire, Rocha points out, a federal judge condemned an activist from Atenco to 67 years in prison.”

An article about the EPR’s bombing of Mexico’s gas pipelines appeared on economist.com September 13 and can be found here.“>

My friend goes on to ask “Why does no middle class or affluent person pay attention to the real situation? I can say that reforms to guarantee an independent human rights commission and a electoral reform law are on the right track–but are they? Or are they irrelevant and unenforceable? Do they address the underlying causes of why armed guerrillas operate in Mexico?”

We go about our lives, but with great unease.”



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