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Popular Liberation Army (Colombia)
Encyclopedia
The Popular Liberation Army, EPL (Ejército Popular de Liberación), is a Colombian guerrilla
group created in 1967. Most of its former members demobilized in 1991, forming the Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Hope, Peace and Liberty
) party, but a dissident faction continues operating.
that disagreed with the Soviet ideological tendencies then displayed by the latter.
The new party created the EPL that same year, and implemented its strategy of promoting socialist revolution
from a rural base in the countryside in order to launch a future offensive against urban centers, where it tried to insert urban cells, while simultaneously engaging in sabotage
and activities considered by international observers as terrorist
.
, on the Caribbean region
, during the late 1960s. Internal dissension and the deaths of some of its key leaders during the 1970s weakened the EPL's operational capabilities.
The EPL's efforts were initially unsuccessful, some of the groups main leaders were killed in military operations during the 1970s, and it apparently did not gain as much intellectual sympathy or recruits as the larger guerrilla organizations (FARC
, M-19
and ELN
), even after the group announced in 1980 that it would abandon orthodox Maoism in favor of Hoxhaism
. A small splinter group, the Pedro León Arboleda Movement, named after a deceased 1975 commander, had been created in 1979.
The EPL declared a 1984 cease-fire together with several other guerrilla groups that began and maintained negotiations with the government. The 1985 murder of the group's leader Ernesto Rojas lead to the EPL's official breaking of the cease-fire. http://www.carnelian-international.com/colombia/guerrilla_Terrorism.htm Unlike the official Colombian Communist Party, the Maoist PCC(ml) did not have official legal status in Colombia at this time.
Military operations executed by the official state armed forces and the actions of private paramilitary
groups against the EPL's militants and its political supporters weakened the group and would have forced internal divisions within its structure.
and a total of some 2000 people affiliated to the guerrilla group demobilized, including both armed and unarmed members.
A smaller, dissident faction, sometimes calling itself "Ejército Popular de Liberación - Línea Disidente" (Popular Liberation Army - Dissident Line), under Francisco Caraballo disagreed with the demobilization, insisted on fighting and did not demobilize. Caraballo himself was eventually captured by Colombian authorities in 1994 and his faction continued guerrilla operations on a smaller scale. http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/Colom989-05.htm#P1794_440846
Most of the demobilized guerrillas formed Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Hope, Peace and Liberty
), a political party, which claimed to defend the interests of workers and labor unions, especially around the Urabá
area in the departments of Antioquia
and Córdoba
.
The FARC, the remaining EPL dissidents and the ELN
considered Esperanza, Paz y Libertad and all the demobilized EPL to be "traitors" and paramilitary collaborators, initiating a series of attacks and assassination attempts against the former EPL members. Some of the ex-EPL members apparently would have eventually joined and participated, individually and allegedly without the support of the new political party, in paramilitary operations against the FARC and their former comrades.
In 1998, Human Rights Watch
reported that the FARC had begun killing a number of ex-EPL members since 1991: "Investigators pinpoint 1991 as the year the FARC began to massacre perceived political rivals in the Esperanza political party formed by amnestied EPL guerrillas and their supporters. The FARC and its urban militias were believed responsible for 204 murders of Esperanza members and amnestied EPL guerrillas from 1991 to 1995."
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/Colom989-05.htm#P1344_318454 In a 1999 report, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) also held the FARC responsible for a number of massacres against Esperanza, Paz y Libertad members or sympathizers. http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Colom99sp/capitulo-4a.htm
Human Rights Watch believed Caraballo's EPL faction to be responsible for a comparatively smaller number of deaths: "According to Esperanza, 348 of its members and amnestied EPL guerrillas were murdered between 1991 and the end of 1995. Of that number, they believe sixty-one were killed by the EPL under Caraballo’s command."
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/Colom989-05.htm#P1794_440846
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
group created in 1967. Most of its former members demobilized in 1991, forming the Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Hope, Peace and Liberty
Hope, Peace and Liberty
Hope, Peace, and Liberty was a Colombian political party. The party was created in 1991, when the guerrillas Popular Liberation Army demobilized. The demobilized members formed a kept the initialism EPL in forming Hope Peace and Liberty. The party was active mostly in Antioquia Department and...
) party, but a dissident faction continues operating.
Origins
The EPL was founded by the Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist–Leninist), PCC(ml), a 1967 offshoot of the main Colombian Communist PartyColombian Communist Party
The Colombian Communist Party or PCC is the legal communist party of Colombia. It was founded in 1930, as the Colombian section of the Comintern...
that disagreed with the Soviet ideological tendencies then displayed by the latter.
The new party created the EPL that same year, and implemented its strategy of promoting socialist revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
from a rural base in the countryside in order to launch a future offensive against urban centers, where it tried to insert urban cells, while simultaneously engaging in sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
and activities considered by international observers as terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
.
Historical development
The EPL's first military operations were in the Córdoba DepartmentCórdoba Department
Córdoba is a Department of the Republic of Colombia located to the north of this country in the Colombian Caribbean Region. Córdoba faces to the north with the Caribbean sea, to the northeast with the Sucre Department, east with the Bolívar Department and south with the Antioquia Department...
, on the Caribbean region
Caribbean Region
The Caribbean Region or Caribbean Coast Region is a natural region of Colombia mainly composed of eight Departments located contiguous to the Caribbean. The area covers a total land area of including the San Andres Island Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina in the Caribbean...
, during the late 1960s. Internal dissension and the deaths of some of its key leaders during the 1970s weakened the EPL's operational capabilities.
The EPL's efforts were initially unsuccessful, some of the groups main leaders were killed in military operations during the 1970s, and it apparently did not gain as much intellectual sympathy or recruits as the larger guerrilla organizations (FARC
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...
, M-19
19th of April Movement
The 19th of April Movement or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla movement. After its demobilization it became a political party, the M-19 Democratic Alliance , or AD/M-19.The M-19 traced its origins to the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of 19 April 1970...
and ELN
National Liberation Army (Colombia)
National Liberation Army is a revolutionary, avowed Marxist guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964....
), even after the group announced in 1980 that it would abandon orthodox Maoism in favor of Hoxhaism
Hoxhaism
"Hoxhaism" is an informal term used to refer to a variant of anti-revisionist Marxism-Leninism that developed in the late 1970s due to a split in the Maoist movement, appearing after the ideological row between the Communist Party of China and the Party of Labour of Albania in 1978.The Albanians...
. A small splinter group, the Pedro León Arboleda Movement, named after a deceased 1975 commander, had been created in 1979.
The EPL declared a 1984 cease-fire together with several other guerrilla groups that began and maintained negotiations with the government. The 1985 murder of the group's leader Ernesto Rojas lead to the EPL's official breaking of the cease-fire. http://www.carnelian-international.com/colombia/guerrilla_Terrorism.htm Unlike the official Colombian Communist Party, the Maoist PCC(ml) did not have official legal status in Colombia at this time.
Military operations executed by the official state armed forces and the actions of private paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
groups against the EPL's militants and its political supporters weakened the group and would have forced internal divisions within its structure.
Partial demobilization
By 1991, the EPL had rejoined peace talks with the administration of president César GaviriaCésar Gaviria
César Gaviria Trujillo is a Colombian politician and a Latin American statesman. He served as President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, and Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 until 2004.-Early life:...
and a total of some 2000 people affiliated to the guerrilla group demobilized, including both armed and unarmed members.
A smaller, dissident faction, sometimes calling itself "Ejército Popular de Liberación - Línea Disidente" (Popular Liberation Army - Dissident Line), under Francisco Caraballo disagreed with the demobilization, insisted on fighting and did not demobilize. Caraballo himself was eventually captured by Colombian authorities in 1994 and his faction continued guerrilla operations on a smaller scale. http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/Colom989-05.htm#P1794_440846
Most of the demobilized guerrillas formed Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Hope, Peace and Liberty
Hope, Peace and Liberty
Hope, Peace, and Liberty was a Colombian political party. The party was created in 1991, when the guerrillas Popular Liberation Army demobilized. The demobilized members formed a kept the initialism EPL in forming Hope Peace and Liberty. The party was active mostly in Antioquia Department and...
), a political party, which claimed to defend the interests of workers and labor unions, especially around the Urabá
Urabá
Urabá or Uraba may refer to:* Gulf of Urabá, a gulf in the Caribbean sea in Colombia.* Urabá Region, a subregion of Colombia.* Urabá Region, a subregion of Colombia.* Urabá Antioquia, a subregion of the Antioquia Department, Colombia....
area in the departments of Antioquia
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...
and Córdoba
Córdoba Department
Córdoba is a Department of the Republic of Colombia located to the north of this country in the Colombian Caribbean Region. Córdoba faces to the north with the Caribbean sea, to the northeast with the Sucre Department, east with the Bolívar Department and south with the Antioquia Department...
.
The FARC, the remaining EPL dissidents and the ELN
National Liberation Army (Colombia)
National Liberation Army is a revolutionary, avowed Marxist guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964....
considered Esperanza, Paz y Libertad and all the demobilized EPL to be "traitors" and paramilitary collaborators, initiating a series of attacks and assassination attempts against the former EPL members. Some of the ex-EPL members apparently would have eventually joined and participated, individually and allegedly without the support of the new political party, in paramilitary operations against the FARC and their former comrades.
In 1998, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
reported that the FARC had begun killing a number of ex-EPL members since 1991: "Investigators pinpoint 1991 as the year the FARC began to massacre perceived political rivals in the Esperanza political party formed by amnestied EPL guerrillas and their supporters. The FARC and its urban militias were believed responsible for 204 murders of Esperanza members and amnestied EPL guerrillas from 1991 to 1995."
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/Colom989-05.htm#P1344_318454 In a 1999 report, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States .Along with the...
(IACHR) also held the FARC responsible for a number of massacres against Esperanza, Paz y Libertad members or sympathizers. http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Colom99sp/capitulo-4a.htm
Human Rights Watch believed Caraballo's EPL faction to be responsible for a comparatively smaller number of deaths: "According to Esperanza, 348 of its members and amnestied EPL guerrillas were murdered between 1991 and the end of 1995. Of that number, they believe sixty-one were killed by the EPL under Caraballo’s command."
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/Colom989-05.htm#P1794_440846
External links
- Esperanza, Paz y Libertad Homepage (Spanish)