Latin America File: Popular Revolutionary Army blows up pipelines in central Mexico; Latin American Left's plan to oust Calderon moves ahead slowly

We must fight against the interests of global capitalism and the empire that still do not share and work for a just world, in solidarity, peace, democracy and freedom.
-- Daniel Ortega, Sandinista President of Nicaragua; statement made in Mexico City, June 27-28, 2007; quoted by Nicaragua Network website

Following the defeat of former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) in last year's presidential election, the Mexican Left--consisting of Obrador's national counter-government known as the "Legitimate Government of Mexico," the counter-government of the state of Oaxaca known as the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, the Zapatista National Army of Liberation, and assorted terrorist formations such as the People's Revolutionary Army (EPR)--pledged themselves to overthrow the pro-USA regime of President Felipe Calderon. Leftists marched and protested, scuffles erupted in the Mexican Congress, a few landmarks were bombed, but Calderon assumed the presidential sash on December 1, 2006 without further disruption. La Revolucion, if Obrador's website is any indication, appeared to primarily consist of numerous photo ops for AMLO among Mexico's destitute.

Notwithstanding AMLO's electoral humiliation, regional leftist leaders continued to plot and scheme.

For example, we documented the covert support, stridently denied by the leftists themselves, that Venezuela's neo-communist dictatorship was directing to Mexico's terrorist cells and Chavezista cheering squads. In March 2006 one Mexican source reported: "Violent groups and political organizations related to the PRD that supports Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have been infiltrated since 2001 by 'Bolivarian cells' financed by the government of Venezuela, to build a structure of 'promotion' and 'self-defense' in case of a possible triumph of the Mexican left in the next presidential electoral day." WorldThreats.com founder Ryan Mauro confirms: "Venezuelan intelligence is also claimed [to] be providing weapons, specifically AK-47s, to the People’s Revolutionary Army of Mexico. Cuban embassy officials are involved in the transfers; money reportedly makes its way to Venezuela, via Havana. According to a report (Geostrategy-Direct.com, 6/7/05), Venezuela and Cuba are also backing members of the Party of Democratic Revolution in Mexico." The neo-communist Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) is the main coalition partner in Obrador's counter-government.

In May 2006, furthermore, Gordon Thomas published an article at WorldNetDaily.com in which he presented information linking the EPR with Al Qaeda: "Another Pakistani document shows the links between al-Qaida and Mexico's Popular Revolutionary Army, EPR. The documents reveal that al-Qaida sees EPR as collaborators in attacks in Mexico on foreign targets – 'especially those of the United States and Britain.' It also says that EPR can play a key role in allowing al-Qaida operatives to enter the United States through the busiest land crossing in the world – Tijuana."

More recently, in January 2007 the narco-terrorist Sao Paulo Forum, revolutionary offspring of Fidel Castro and "moderate leftist" Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, convened in San Salvador. This communist meet-and-greet was followed several weeks later by the still-unsolved murders of three rightist Salvadoran politicians in Guatemala, as well as their alleged assassins, four anti-gang unit police officers. Salvadoran President Tony Saca has complained about the slow pace of the government of Guatemala's official investigation.

On June 27 and 28 Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega visited his "neo-liberal" Mexican counterpart, during which meeting he promoted the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, the organizational manifestation of the Havana-Caracas Axis. At a follow-up press conference, Comandate Ortega, an unrepentant Marxist skilled in the art of ideological camouflage, declared that Nicaraguans and Mexicans must "fight against the interests of global capitalism and the empire that still do not share and work for a just world, in solidarity, peace, democracy and freedom."

Pictured above: Fire resulting from pipeline bombing near town of Coroneo, Mexico, July 10, 2007.

Mexico Confirms Attacks on Pipelines
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 11, 2007
Filed at 12:59 a.m. ET

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's government on Tuesday called a series of gas pipeline explosions a threat to the nation's democratic institutions and vowed to step up security after a guerrilla group claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The Interior Department said it would take measures to protect ''strategic installations'' across Mexico after an explosion Tuesday at a pipeline run by the state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and two other blasts that rocked gas ducts on Thursday.

''The Mexican government categorically condemns the attacks against Pemex facilities. This criminal conduct aims to weaken democratic institutions, the patrimony of Mexicans and the safety of their families,'' the statement said.

While officials said investigations were continuing into the cause of the blasts, the statement by the Interior Department -- responsible for domestic security -- came a short time after a small guerrilla group said its members had planted explosives on the pipelines.

Late Tuesday, Mexico's attorney general's office also ruled out an accidental cause and said in a statement that an investigation had determined the explosions last week were set off outside the ducts, in a similar manner and simultaneously.

"This indicates (the explosions) were set intentionally,'' it said, adding that it was trying to determine if the guerrilla group's claims were authentic.

The rebel statement said ''three combined squads of urban and rural units ... have carried out surgical harassment actions by placing eight explosive packs on the Pemex pipelines.'' Posted on a Web site that serves as a clearinghouse for bulletins from armed groups, the statement demanded the release of two men detained in southern Oaxaca state in May, and others it identified as ''political prisoners.''

The city was seized by leftist groups for five months in 2006 before federal police broke up barricades and protest camps in October and arrested dozens.

While guerrilla groups in Colombia have regularly attacked energy facilities, the tactic hasn't been used much in Mexico until now.

It was impossible to independently confirm the claim, made by the ''military zone command of the People's Revolutionary Army,'' or EPR, a tiny group that has largely been inactive in recent years. However, a breakaway faction of the same group had issued similar demands in a communique sent to The Associated Press in June.

Tuesday's explosion forced the evacuation of communities around the town of Coroneo, near the central city of Queretaro, but caused no damage outside of the pipeline's installations, Pemex said in statement.

Service was suspended on the 36-inch pipeline that runs between Mexico City and Guadalajara. The company didn't say when it would be restored.

On July 5, two explosions at another Pemex pipeline in the nearby Guanajuato state forced evacuations but caused no injuries.

That blast forced the temporary suspension of work at a Honda car plant in the city of Guadalajara, the government news agency Notimex reported Tuesday.

The EPR staged several armed attacks in southern Mexico in the 1990s. Tuesday's statement was signed both by the EPR and a splinter group known as the People's Democratic Revolutionary Party.

Source: The New York Times

In April Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and key player in Moscow's long-range strategic deception, traveled to Mexico where he conferred with leaders of the Party of Labor, which belongs to Obrador's coalition known as the National Democratic Convention, and, according to the CPRF website, met Obrador himself. The Party of Labor also belongs to the Sao Paulo Forum. Zyuganov then traveled to Cuba, where he huddled with Castro, and Venezuela, where he strategized with leaders of the pro-Chavez Communist Party of Venezuela. In June Chavez himself traveled to Moscow where he met both President Vladimir Putin and Zyuganov.

In light of the fact that the Venezuelan dictator is openly consorting with the power behind the throne in Russia, the leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation/Soviet Union, that Zyuganov himself recently visited his ideological brethern in Latin America, and that the Red Mafiya and "renegade" elements in the Russian military are supplying weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, one should not be faulted for speculating that Moscow is also pushing for red revolution in Mexico.

While it is possible that communists could seize the reins of power in some of Mexico's impoverished, conflict-ridden southern states, the likelihood that armed revolution could topple such a geographically large, federal state appears low. Nevertheless, terrorist actions supported by Moscow, Havana, and Caracas can reduce the legitimacy of the current regime, permitting Obrador's counter-government to obtain more seats in the next congressional elections, scheduled to occur in 2009. Otherwise, AMLO and his henchentities in the Mexican Left can foment a constitutional crisis before then, forcing their way into government.