Mexican Guerillas Promise Armed La Parota Resistance

4th Dec

A new gueril­la group in the Mex­i­can state of Guer­rero has promised armed sup­port for social move­ments, includ­ing the strug­gle against La Paro­ta Dam.

Two days after announc­ing its for­ma­tion via online media, the Rev­o­lu­tion­ary Armed Forces-People’s Lib­er­a­tion (Fuerzas Armadas Rev­olu­cionar­ias-Lib­eración del Pueblo, FAR-LP) released a video of one of its lead­ers, “Coman­dante Cami­lo,” warn­ing that the group will launch armed reprisals against the gov­ern­ment if it con­tin­ues repress­ing social move­ments.

“If the fed­er­al and state gov­ern­ments con­tin­ue the repres­sion of activists and NGOs, we will make them pay,” he says, read­ing from a com­mu­niqué.

“From these lands, for­got­ten by all those gov­ern­ments, we say to you, Mr. Gov­er­nor and Mr. Pres­i­dent Peña Nieto, that the harass­ment, the deaths, the threats against the peo­ple must end.

“From this moment, if there is anoth­er who dies or is impris­oned from our peo­ple, we will exact pay­ment, not in the same place. If there has to be blood, we should spill more than they.”

The FAR-LP explic­it­ly men­tions its sup­port for the Coun­cil of Eji­dos and Com­mu­ni­ties in Oppo­si­tion to La Paro­ta Dam (CECOP), an unre­lat­ed non-gueril­la group that has spear­head­ed oppo­si­tion to the dam.

“They are not alone. They have an army at their dis­po­si­tion. You [the gov­ern­ment] are the ones who decide what we will do,” the group states.