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Colombia The Popular Liberation Army
The Popular Libeation Army (Ejército Popular de
Liberación--
EPL) was the only major group in Colombia espousing a
Maoist
political ideology; as such, it endorsed the concept of a
prolonged
popular war. Organized in early 1968, the EPL was headed
by proChinese communists who formed the Communist Party of
Colombia--
Marxist-Leninist (Partido Comunista de Colombia-Marxista--
Leninista--PCC-ML) upon breaking with the Soviet-line PCC
in July
1965. The EPL served as the armed branch of the PCC-ML.
Unlike the
PCC, the PCC-ML did not enjoy legal status in 1988.
The EPL's first military operations were in the
department of
Córdoba, on the Caribbean coast, during the late 1960s.
Internal
dissension and the deaths of some of its key leaders
during the
1970s weakened the EPL's operational capabilities. In 1979
continuing dissent within the EPL led to formation of the
Pedro
León Arboleda Movement, a splinter group named for an EPL
leader
slain in 1975. This group remained active as an
independent
organization in the 1980s.
Despite its Maoist orientation, the EPL chose to
participate in
the 1984 cease-fire, but it refused to sign a peace
agreement.
Following the reported killing in 1985 of its leader,
Ernesto
Rojas, the organization broke the cease-fire. In 1987 the
EPL's
size was estimated at approximately 350 guerrillas
organized into
four fronts. Its principal area of operations was in rural
regions
of the departments of Antioquia, Córdoba, and Risaralda.
The
organization also maintained urban support networks in
major
cities.
Data as of December 1988
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