Mexico: Bombed pipeline back in service

Mexico’s state-run oil company PEMEX finished fixing a vital pipeline that had been damaged by a guerilla group last week. The natural gas pipeline was one of six gas and oil ducts attacked by the “People’s Revolutionary Army” (EPR) as an act of “self-defense against (government) aggression.”

Who is the EPR? As we mentioned in a post two months ago, they were a low key rebel faction, and according to a 1998 interview with an EPR spokesman:

“We’ve been compared to the Shining Path... We’re not provocateurs. We’ve been working for 20 years with people who are dying of hunger. Aguas Blancas accelerated the process. The social base asked what could be done and we answered the call. Socialism isn’t on the agenda and armed struggle can’t bring about change on its own. All forms of democratic, peaceful and parliamentary struggle are necessary. But, given the situation, we also need armed pressure.”

Sources- International Herald Tribune, Yahoo! News, The Latin Americanist, Le Monde Diplomatique

Image- fotw.com (Flag of the People’s Revolutionary Army)