December 17, 1967: The EPL led peasant uprisings in Alto Sinu, the San Jorge region and Cauca. (unknown killed, unknown wounded) [1]
Last Attack
October 2014: Colombian officials suspected the EPL was responsible for an attack on the town of Playa de Belen in Norte de Santander that left two police officers dead. (2 killed, 1 wounded). [2]
Updated
August 29, 2015
Narrative Summary
The Popular Liberation Army (EPL) was a Marxist guerrilla group founded in 1967 to oppose to
the Colombian government. Unlike other Colombian guerrilla groups, such
as the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the EPL
was formed as the militant wing of the Communist Party of Colombia
(Marxist-Leninist), a branch of the Colombian Communist Party (PCC), and
self-titled itself the official armed wing of the party. [3] Together, the EPL and the PCC attempted to
end government influence over labor unions and local corporations. [4]
In the 1960s, the EPL operated
exclusively in rural areas attempting to fight for the interests of the proletariat,
particularly in Northwest Antioquia, but was almost eliminated after a series
of attacks from paramilitaries and the Colombian government. It was not until
the 1980s, when the EPL started expanding into urban areas, that the group rebuilt
and strengthened. In the 1980s, the EPL focused on agro-industrial development
and openly used drug trafficking to finance its operations. [5][6]
In 1984, the EPL
participated in peace talks with the Betancur Administration, but the peace
was punctuated by breaches of the ceasefire committed by both sides. In 1991,
the EPL signed a truce with the Colombian government and officially disbanded.
However, the majority of EPL members united under one of the EPL’s original
factions, the Libardo Mora Toro Front led by Megateo, and chose to continue
fighting despite the truce. [7][8] The dissident group kept the EPL name and throughout
the 1990s, maintained the EPL’s ranking as the third largest guerrilla group in
Colombia. Though the majority of EPL members continued fighting, the Colombian
government considers the EPL disbanded and reports refer to the EPL’s continued
militant activity as attacks carried out by a dissident faction of the
officially disbanded group. [9]
Throughout the 1990s, the dissident members
allied with the FARC to attack demobilized EPL members because both guerrilla
groups believed that those who demobilized had ‘betrayed the revolution.’ [10] Between
1999 and 2000, most of the EPL’s remaining leaders were either captured or
killed by paramilitary groups or the Colombian army. Following loss of
leadership, many remaining members dispersed or joined the FARC or ELN. [11]
However, in 2001, 500 EPL members were still active and the group was
responsible for kidnapping 20 people. In 2002, the group kidnapped 33 people and
planted land mines. [12][13] By 2005, paramilitary groups, security
agencies, and, most notably, the FARC and dissident EPL group killed a total of
321 demilitarized EPL members. [14] Since
2005, very little information exists on the EPL but in 2014, the group, under
leader Megateo, wanted to join the peace talks with the Colombian government,
the FARC, and the ELN. EPL leader Megateo believed a National Constituent
Assembly would be necessary to get the EPL involved in the peace talks. [15]
Leadership
Megateo, legal name Victor Ramon Navarro-Cerrano (Unknown to Present): Megateo is the current leader and chief financial officer of the Libardo Mora Tora front, the last operating EPL faction. Megateo has also been connected to the FARC and the ELN. There is a $5 million bounty on his head. On August 16, 2015, Megateo was allegedly killed by Colombian Special Forces and the Colombian Army in North Santander; however, reports are unconfirmed.[16]
Megateo, legal name Victor Ramon Navarro-Cerrano (Unknown to Present): Megateo is the current leader and chief financial officer of the Libardo Mora Tora front, the last operating EPL faction. Megateo has also been connected to the FARC and the ELN. There is a $5 million bounty on his head. On August 16, 2015, Megateo was allegedly killed by Colombian Special Forces and the Colombian Army in North Santander; however, reports are unconfirmed.[17]
Oscar William Calvo (1967 to 1985): Calvo was an EPL representative in the 1984 peace negotiations with President Belisario Betancur and a member of President Belisario Betancur’s Peace Commission in 1984. In November 1985, Calvo was murdered. [18]
El Viejo Rafa, legal name Antonio Martínez Pastrana (1980 to Present): El Viejo Rafa has been a member of the EPL since the 1970s as a messenger but became a leader, known for his kidnapping skills, in the 1980s. Despite the Colombian police’s knowledge of his whereabouts, Colombian police allegedly refused to enter areas under his control.[19]
Francisco Caraballo (1991 to 2008): Caraballo led the armed wing of the Communist Party of Colombia and the group’s transition to the EPL. Caraballo then became the political and military leader of the EPL. He also led the dissident members that refused to adhere to the 1991 peace agreement. He was arrested in 1993, but continued to influence the EPL from his jail cell. He was released from jail in 2008, at which time he renounced violence.[20]
Ideology & Goals
Hoxhaism
Maoist
Marxist
The EPL was a Marxist
group, inspired by Maoist ideology that aimed to topple the Colombian government and establish a
communist state. [21] It originally
operated
in rural Colombia in an effort to fight a “people’s war.” However, in
1976 the EPL began to include urban regions and the working class. Throughout
its existence, the EPL was motivated by its main goal of protecting the
proletariat. [22][23]
The EPL has never been
listed as a terrorist organization by the United States government or others. [34]
Resources
The EPL frequently
publicized its endorsement of the drug trade and reliance on the drug trade for
profit. The EPL paid for weapons, ammunition, and other supplies through a
taxation process, in which the EPL would ‘tax’ cocaine producers in its
territory and collect fees for having protected drug shipments. [35][36][37]
In addition to the drug
trade, the EPL relied on extortion of wealthy landowners, cattle stealing, and
money laundering to earn revenue. [38][39]
Geographical Locations
The EPL was originally
based in Northwest Antioquia and rural areas. In the 1980s, the EPL expanded
and included urban regions. In addition to Antioquia, the EPL has reportedly
had strong presence in Caldas, La Guajira, and North Santander. [40]
Targets & Tactics
The EPL traditionally
engaged in kidnapping, extortion, cattle stealing, money laundering, planting
land mines and directly attacking communities. [41][42] Before 1991, the EPL targeted
Colombian government assets and staged attacks on the military, police and
government personnel. [43]
The current EPL is only a fraction as strong as the
EPL of the 1980s. It has devolved into little more than an organized crime
network that carries out intimidation tactics, kidnappings, and murders of
high-profile landowners, foreign visitors and workers. [44]
Political Activities
The EPL was
founded as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist-Leninist),
an offshoot of the Colombian Communist Party (PCC).
Many members of the EPL
accepted a truce offered by the Betancur government in 1984. Others demobilized
in 1991 and entered the political arena as the Partido Esperanza, Paz y
Libertad (Hope, Peace and Liberty Party) in the Uraba region of the northern
province of Antioquia. [45] However, the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), another guerrilla group, opposed this
political move, and many EPL members were not convinced that involving the
group in politics would be as effective as guerrilla warfare. The party was
severely weakened by decreasing membership in addition to targeted assassinations
of members by the FARC and the dissident EPL faction led by Megateo. [46]
Major Attacks
December 17, 1967: The EPL led peasant uprisings in Alto Sinu, the San Jorge region and Cauca. (unknown killed, unknown wounded).[47]
October 4, 1999: Fifteen EPL members kidnapped 12 civilians from the town of Ocana at a roadblock. In a rescue mission, the Colombian military rescued all 12 hostages, killed one EPL member, and injured two of the hostages. (1 killed, 2 wounded).[48]
April 2000: At a roadblock south of Bogotá, the EPL kidnapped between 10 and 14 persons. (unknown killed, unknown wounded).[49]
2006: In 2006, the EPL received assistance from the FARC and killed 10 DAS detectives in addition to seven soldiers. (unknown killed, unknown wounded).[50]
February 2012: EPL militants shot at a surveillance helicopter in Norte de Santander. (0 killed, 2 wounded).[51]
May 2014: The EPL kidnapped and shot a police officer in Norte de Santander. (1 killed, 0 wounded).[52]
October 13, 2014: Colombian officials suspected the EPL was responsible for an attack on the town of Playa de Belen in Norte de Santander that left two police officers dead. (2 killed, 1 wounded).[53]
Relationships with Other Groups
In 1987, the
EPL joined the Simon Bolivar Guerrilla Coordinating Board (CGSB), a guerrilla
alliance formed by the National Liberation (ELN) following its failed 1984
peace negotiations with the government. Other members of the CGSB included the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the April 19 Movement
(M-19). [54] Together, these guerrilla groups operated throughout
Colombia and attacked Colombia's major oil facilities. In 1991, the EPL left
the CGSB when the group officially demobilized. [55]
When the EPL
officially disbanded in 1991, many members continued to fight under the EPL
name despite their agreement with the government. These EPL members allied with
FARC guerrillas and attacked demobilized EPL members for betraying the
revolutionary cause. Attacks on demobilized EPL members continued into the 2000s.
[56]
In 1999, when the
EPL’s remaining leaders were either captured or killed, many EPL guerrillas
joined the FARC and the ELN. [57]
In 2002, the EPL and the
ELN committed a joint attack on the town of Hacari. [58] In 2014, the EPL sought to enter the latest round of
peace talks among the FARC and ELN and the Colombian government. In July 2014
the EPL proposed to the FARC and the ELN a National Constituent Assembly to
persuade the Colombian government to allow the EPL to join the peace talks. [59]
^ Holmes, Jennifer S, Sheila Amin
Gutiérrez de Piñeres, and Kevin M Curtin. Guns, Drugs, and Development In
Colombia. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
^ Colombia: The Status and Activities of the Popular Liberation Army (Ejército
Popular de Liberación, EPL); whether the EPL uses kidnapping and violence to
further their cause; whether authorities are successful in combatting EPL
initiatives (2002-2003).” Refworld.
Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 14 February 2003. Web. 26
August 2015. http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4d791c.html
^ Bouvier, Virginia Marie. Colombia :
Building Peace In a Time of War. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute
of Peace Press, 2009.
^ Holmes, Jennifer S, Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de
Piñeres, and Kevin M Curtin. Guns, Drugs, and Development In Colombia.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
^ Colombia:
The Status and Activities of the Popular Liberation Army (Ejército Popular de
Liberación, EPL); whether the EPL uses kidnapping and violence to further their
cause; whether authorities are successful in combatting EPL initiatives
(2002-2003).” Refworld. Canada:
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 14 February 2003. Web. 26 August 2015.
http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4d791c.html
^ Holmes, Jennifer S,
Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres, and Kevin M Curtin. Guns, Drugs, and
Development In Colombia. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
^ Bouvier,
Virginia Marie. Colombia : Building Peace In a Time of War. Washington,
D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2009.
^ Holmes, Jennifer S,
Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres, and Kevin M Curtin. Guns, Drugs, and
Development In Colombia. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
^ {{Ciment, James. World Terrorism : an Encyclopedia of Political Violence From Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era. 2nd ed. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2011.}}
^ {{Colombia: The Status and Activities of the Popular Liberation Army (Ejército Popular de Liberación, EPL); whether the EPL uses kidnapping and violence to further their cause; whether authorities are successful in combatting EPL initiatives (2002-2003).”
^ Colombia: The Status and Activities of the Popular Liberation Army
(Ejército Popular de Liberación, EPL); whether the EPL uses kidnapping and
violence to further their cause; whether authorities are successful in
combatting EPL initiatives (2002-2003).” Refworld.
Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 14 February 2003. Web. 26
August 2015. http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4d791c.html
^ Holmes, Jennifer S, Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de
Piñeres, and Kevin M Curtin. Guns, Drugs, and Development In Colombia.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
^ Colombia: The Status and Activities of the Popular Liberation Army
(Ejército Popular de Liberación, EPL); whether the EPL uses kidnapping and
violence to further their cause; whether authorities are successful in
combatting EPL initiatives (2002-2003).” Refworld.
Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 14 February 2003. Web. 26
August 2015. http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4d791c.html
^ Bouvier, Virginia
Marie. Colombia : Building Peace In a Time of War. Washington, D.C.:
United States Institute of Peace Press, 2009.
^ Holmes, Jennifer S, Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres, and Kevin M
Curtin. Guns, Drugs, and Development In Colombia. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2008.
^ Colombia: The Status and Activities of the
Popular Liberation Army (Ejército Popular de Liberación, EPL); whether the EPL
uses kidnapping and violence to further their cause; whether authorities are
successful in combatting EPL initiatives (2002-2003).” Refworld. Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 14
February 2003. Web. 26 August 2015.
http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4d791c.html