MEXICO: PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY ARMY COMES TO THE FORE

[hariette@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (hariette spierings)]

MEXICO: PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY ARMY COMES TO THE FORE


Red Star Information Bulletin # 2

London 01/07/96

Today the British paper The Guardian publishes a large photograph of a
heavily armed battalion of the People's Revolutionary Army entering the town
of Aguas Blancas, in the Mexican state of Guerrero.  The people's fighters
are seen wearing their own uniforms and red bandanas with eye-slits cut on
them tied over the faces and tucked under military style kepis and marching
in long columns while receiving the applause of the local working people.

Former opposition presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas was holding a
meeting marking the first anniversary of the massacre by police of 17
peasants at Aguas Blancas, when the People's Revolutionary Army forces
descended on the town from the surrounding hills.

Taking control of the town, the guerilla's spokespeople read a call for the
overthrow of the "anti-popular, anti-democratic, demagogic and illegitimate
regime" announcing their decission to launch the armed struggle until victory.

After distributing manifestos calling for the formation of "People's
Tribunals to judge the enemies of the people", which were also distributed
at road blocks established by the PLA on the Acapulco-Mexico City motorway,
the battalion strong force withdrew from Aguas Blancas firing volleys into
the air.

Three policemen and a civilian were injured in the armed clashes surrounding
this event and later troops from the Mexican Army began operations to search
the mountains of this Pacific coast state.

In Aguas Blancas, a pale, frustrated and shaken Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, was
left to speculate that "those responsible for the Aguas Blancas massacre
could well be behind these events".

In the Southern state of Chiapas, where the Zapatista National Liberation
Army (EZLN) is engaged in peace negotiations with the Mexican regime,
Subcomandante Marcos, kept absolutely mum and declined to comment on the
emergence of the PRA.

The official reaction from Mexican regime authorities was also reminiscent
of the official line taken by the Peruvian state at the begining of the
Maoist insurgency in 1980.  Dionisio Perez, a government spokesman denied
that the PRA was "an armed group of the subversive type", calling this
incursion by a 100 plus strong battallion "an isolated act by criminals".

The People's War in Peru, began 16 years ago led by the Communist Party of
Peru. This war is now experiencing a new degree of intensity, principally in
the countryside, but also in the cities.  As a consequence, the USA,
bringing in a sense of Deja-Vu, has been forced to step up its direct
military intervention in Peru under the guise of "war on drugs", raising the
number of adviser and military personnel in the Area to over 850.  Most
experts agree that this recent increase is directly linked to the widespread
military offensives of the People's Liberation Army led by the Maoists in
Peru, specially in the Huallaga Valley.

Recently, Maoist guerillas began operating in Nepal seizing several towns
and fighting broke out in various regions of that Asian country. In India
too, many reports indicate that Maoist guerillas are experiencing a new
degree of development.  In addition, in the Phillipines, Maoist led
workers-peasants armies led by the Communist Party of Phillipines have been
engaged in guerilla warfare for many years.  Maoist tendencies exist too in
Colombia which have recently been reported as strenghtening contacts with
the Maoists in Peru.

Sources: The Guardian, London, UK
Phil Gunson reporting from Mexico City
International News, page 10
Other media and sources.



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