Surprise Attacks by Mexico Rebels Kill at Least 12

Heavily armed rebels attacked police and military posts in two popular tourist resorts and five other towns, leaving at least 12 people dead in the worst guerrilla violence in Mexico in more than two years, authorities said Thursday.

The masked rebels, brandishing grenades and Soviet-made rifles, handed out leaflets and spray-painted buildings with the initials of the Popular Revolutionary Army, a newly proclaimed left-wing rebel group.

Their seemingly well-coordinated attacks across a huge swath of this country late Wednesday and early Thursday raised fears that Mexico could be swept by political unrest.

This was the worst rebel bloodshed since a January 1994 uprising by the Zapatista rebels in southern Mexico killed more than 140 and prompted nervous foreign investors to pull money from this country, contributing to its severe economic crisis.

Mexico’s government has claimed the guerrillas involved in the latest outburst have little popular support. And they appear to be no match for the Mexican army.

But some analysts have noted that with its economic crisis, widespread poverty, and a history of voting fraud and government repression, Mexico could face increasing political violence.

Wall Street analysts said Thursday that U.S. investors were taking a wait-and-see attitude on the new rebels. But Mexico’s main stock market index dropped a hefty 2.23% on Thursday; that decline was also linked to the performance of U.S. financial markets.

However, other analysts noted with concern that the guerrillas had targeted Santa Cruz Huatulco and Acapulco, two Pacific coast resorts. No tourists were hurt in the violence.

“The importance here is that a group of 30 to 50 [rebels] managed to enter a tourist center that is strategic for the country,” said political scientist Sergio Aguayo, referring to the attack on Huatulco. Noting how valuable tourist dollars are to Mexico, he added, “If there are more attacks on tourist centers, it could have a negative effect on the country’s economy.”

The Popular Revolutionary Army, known by its Spanish initials EPR, announced its existence with a gun-firing flourish at a memorial ceremony June 28 for peasants massacred by police in Guerrero, an impoverished southern state. The national government initially dismissed its members as common criminals; EPR has said it finances itself with kidnap ransoms, and it has called for land reform, renegotiation of Mexico’s foreign debt and the overthrow of the government.

In recent weeks, EPR has ambushed the army several times. The latest attacks in four states indicate that the rebels have far greater geographical reach than previously known. Interior Undersecretary Arturo Nunez acknowledged publicly for the first time Thursday that EPR was actually a rebel group active in the 1970s, known as PROCUP, or Clandestine Workers’ Revolutionary Party.

“We are continuing with our investigations . . . to fully identify those who carried out these violent and cowardly acts,” he said, adding, without details, that several wounded rebels were detained. He put the death toll from the assaults at 12, but local officials said 13 people were killed and more than 20 were wounded.

The attacks began about 10 p.m. Wednesday. In Tlaxiaco, about 70 miles west of the city of Oaxaca, about 50 men wearing red scarves and clutching AK-47 rifles roared up to the mountain city in a dump truck and several pickups, said Genero Leonardo Sosa, the local governor’s representative. “They ran throughout the town, frightening the people, shooting in the air and shouting slogans of the EPR,” he said. The guerrillas killed two police officers guarding City Hall, then fled.

About two hours later, approximately 80 heavily armed guerrillas in olive-green uniforms arrived in Huatulco, a popular resort about 100 miles south of Oaxaca city. After dividing into groups, they attacked two police stations, a naval base and a judicial office in the city’s commercial zone, said Gov. Diodoro Carrasco of Oaxaca state.

As the firefights raged, three sailors, two police officers and two rebels were killed, he told a news conference. Two civilians were killed in the cross-fire, he said. Local officials said the violence didn’t spill over into the hotel strip about five miles away.

Meanwhile, another group of rebels had made its way to Acapulco, in neighboring Guerrero state, where the guerrillas attacked police with AK-47 rifles and grenades, injuring one officer, authorities said. The fighting didn’t affect the hotel zone about four miles away, residents said.

The other deadly attack occurred in Tixtla, near the southern city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero’s capital. There, two police officers were killed by masked rebels, Mayor Edelmira Hernandez said. “The population was terrified,” she said by telephone. “We’ve never had this kind of situation.”

Suspected rebels also opened fire on military barracks in two other towns in Guerrero and an army post in Mexico state, officials said.

In a sign of their impressive ability to spread out around the country, EPR members briefly blocked a highway in the southern state of Chiapas, hundreds of miles from the other attacks.

“They’re trying to overextend the army,” said Jorge Castaneda, a political scientist who has written about left-wing rebels. “First, they draw it out, then pick it off. . . . They [the rebels] can concentrate their forces while the army is spread out all over the place.”

On Thursday, extra police patrolled Acapulco, and the army was setting up roadblocks and combing the area near towns that were attacked, local officials and reporters said.

Mexican business leaders called on the government Thursday to crack down on the rebels before they affect foreign investment. “With a belligerent group like this that uses high-powered weapons, you can’t fight them with holy water,” Carlos Abascal, president of an employers association, told Radio Red.

The latest rebel attacks came just days before President Ernesto Zedillo’s State of the Union address. Some analysts suggested the rebels intended to embarrass him.