Page 314 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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294———People’s Revolutionary Army

The 1960s were a time of great upheaval in the ELN, both of which were seen as rightly mistrust-
Colombia, resulting in the formation of several active ful of the government. The EPL attempted to reestab-
resistance forces; the best known are the Revolutionary lish itself as a guerrilla force, copying the FARC and
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National the ELN tactic of kidnapping and attacks on the oil
Liberation Army (ELN). Unlike the ELN and the industry, but the EPL never truly recovered. In
FARC, which although communist in ideology oper- 1989–1990, the EPL once again entered talks with the
ated independently of any political faction, the EPL government; an amnesty offer induced 1,800 EPL
was founded in 1967 as the armed wing of an existing guerrillas to lay down their arms in March 1991, seem-
political party, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party ingly finishing the organization.
(ML-CP)—a breakaway faction of the Colombian A hard core of dissidents, however, refused to par-
Communist Party. Thus, the EPL was the instrument of ticipate in the amnesty, and with the FARC and ELN
its party, not an independent entity. During the EPL’s continuing their fight with the government; these hard-
early years, it adhered strictly to party dogma; such liners were able to regroup and attract new recruits.
focus may have made the EPL more receptive to polit- The recent spate of kidnappings, including the 1999
ical solutions to Colombia’s ongoing conflict. abduction of a Roman Catholic archbishop, may be an
The ML-CP advocated a strict Maoist strategy in attempt to bring the EPL to public notice once again.
which revolution was to originate among guerrilla The organization is currently estimated to have about
fighters and peasants in the countryside who would 1,000 members. While it remains one of the smallest
encircle major cities with “liberated” territory, thus guerrilla groups active in Colombia, the EPL’s tenacity
gradually choking off government support until and the intransigence of its remaining leaders makes it
besiegement caused collapse. This strategy prompted a force that cannot be easily dismissed.
the EPL to infiltrate local unions and worker’s rights
See also NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY–COLUMBIA;
groups to indoctrinate the peasantry. While the EPL
REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA; UNITED
infiltrated effectively, its recruitment efforts met
SELF-DEFENSE FORCES OF COLOMBIA
largely with failure. By 1975, disagreements within
the EPL leadership over strict adherence to Maoist Further Reading
strategy began a period of infighting that limited the
group’s ability to fight on the outside. In 1980, the Kline, Harvey F. Democracy Under Assault. New York:
EPL announced that it had abandoned Maoism, and Westview, 1995.
Kline, Harvey F. State Building and Conflict Resolution in
it began to attract new members in its northeastern
Colombia, 1986-94. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama
area of operation. By the early 1980s, the group was
Press, 1999.
estimated to have about 1,500 active members.
Safford, Frank, and Marco Palacios. Colombia: Fragmented
In 1982, Colombia’s president Belisario Betancur
Land, Divided Society. New York: Oxford University
initiated peace negotiations with the guerrillas. The Press, 2002.
EPL and another guerrilla group, the M-19, were the
most receptive; in August of 1984 the EPL signed a
peace accord with the government. Many in the gov-
ernment and the Army were opposed to Betancur’s PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY ARMY
peace initiative, however, and right-wing paramilitary
aka Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo
death squads began to form. The EPL and other guer-
rilla groups that had tried to enter politics found their
activists the targets of assassination, and neither the The People’s Revolutionary Army (Ejercito
Army nor the larger guerrilla groups were honoring Revolucionario del Pueblo; ERP) was a leftist guerrilla
the cease-fire. After the November 1985 assassination organization active in El Salvador’s 12-year civil war
of the EPL’s leader Oscar Calvo, the group abandoned (1980–1992); it also played a leading role in the
the now-collapsed peace process. Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation.
This was a heavy blow to the EPL, as it had been El Salvador had, since 1929, been ruled by a mili-
one of the initiative’s most ardent supporters. Former tary dictatorship. The army, which served the interests
sympathizers felt betrayed by the EPL’s political of the 14-family oligarchy that controlled the
capitulation and began to support the FARC and Salvadoran economy, ran the country. Elections were