Shadowy Marxist groups poses threat to Mexican economy, state

We have written several stories about the shadowy Marxist rebel group Ejército Popular Revolucionario, or EPR, which has targeted Mexico’s oil and natural gas infrastructure, as well as other commerical facilities. Mexcican prosecutors say that the group is financing its operations with the kidnappings of businessmen. The New York Times’s James McKinley and Antonio Betancourt write that the group, has committed at least eighty-eight kidnappings since 1999, collecting millions of dollars in ransom. Just this year, the rebels have taken at least four people hostage, including two prominent businessmen and the relative of a reputed drug dealer. The bombings of gas pipelines are considered a drastic escalation in the group’s tactics, and officials say that the quite-sudden move by the rebels from doing mostly kidnappings to destruction of critical infrastructure now pose a much larger threat to the stability of Mexican economy and state.

On two days in early July and again on 10 September, several bombs went off simultaneously at junctures on the pipelines and disrupted gas supplies to factories and businesses. Together, the attacks shut hundreds of factories in ten states, some for as long as a week, including Volkswagen, Nissan, and Honda plants. Losses have been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In all three attacks, the bombers filled fire extinguishers with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, then detonated them with plastic explosives wired to digital watches and batteries. The power of the bombs and the logistical skill in setting them off at the same time took many top officials by surprise. Before the blasts, the EPR was considered a moribund group that had peaked in 1996 and then splintered into several smaller groups.