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Results of Criminal Organizations Database Search: Ejercito Revolutionario del Pueblo
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Ejercito Revolutionario del Pueblo				#CR0002710 
	(Also... Some alternate names are aliases, other are names for specific subgroups or
	cells).   
 	Popular Liberation Army 
	EPL
	Ejercito Popular de Liberacion 

Source:	        CIA, Interpol
	
Type:		 Political terrorist organization.

Scope:
	An active terrorist organization operating mainly in the western section of Columbia.
 
Affiliations:
	Current affiliations exist with the armed wing of the Colombian Communist
	Party—MarxistLeninist (PCC-ML), as well as M-19 [#CR0002738] and the National
	Liberation Army [#CR0003112]. [Interpol]

Personnel:	700

Operating Since:
	1967

Structure:
	A military-style hierarchy of "assault squads" consisting of forty to fifty members each.
	Every squad is assigned to a different sector of Colombia and work together if needed
	for a larger operation. [CIA]
 	
Leaders:
	Jairo Clavo [#LL6298764], (aka Ernesto Rodas), killed by police in February 1987.
	Francisco Caraballo [#LL6391263] current leader. Javier Robles [#LL6481756] second
	in command.

Legitimate Connections:
	None known. 

Resources:
	Smallarms, explosives and military equipment. Moderate support and intelligence,
	excellent funding through criminal operations.
 	
Suspected Criminal Activity:
	The actions of EPL are mainly criminal operations, beginning in 1982 with the
	kidnapping of a wealthy landowner in northeast Colombia and demanding a $2 Million
	dollar ransom. Further actions include the armed robbery of a payroll vehicle and
	robbing a Credit Fund, before their actions became very violent.
	
	In 1984 EPL executed eight peasants as Army informers and killed the police chief of a
	small town in northwest Colombia. In June of 1984 EPL assaulted a police station in
	downtown Medellin with machineguns, killing one policeman and wounding four others.
	The terrorists later bombed the building. One year later EPL broke a ceasefire
	agreement with the Government, attacked a small town in northeast Colombia, and
	killed four people.
	
	In June of 1986 clashes began between the EPL and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
	Colombia (FARC) [#CR0000591] including a bombing attack against the Colombian-
	Soviet Friendship Institute in Medellin as reprisal against the for clashes. A number of
	other bombings, kidnappings and assaults have been attributed to EPL, most ending
	without violence.

Additional Commentary:
	The EPL emerged in late 1967 as a result of Maoist influence on Marxist-Leninist
	thinking. It is the armed branch of the minuscule pro-Peking PCC-ML. Throughout the
	1970s, the EPL retained its ideological link with Peking, despite its diminutive size in
	comparison with other active Colombian groups. During the late 1970s, the EPL was
	responsible for occasional sabotage attacks, kidnapings, bank robberies, and bombings.
	Beginning in early 1987, the EPL began to develop a rural campaign in the Uraba
	region, making it one of the two most consistently active guerrilla zones in the country.

	The EPL, the National Liberation Army [#CR0003112], the M-19 [#CR0002738], and
	two other small groups compose the National Guerrilla Coordinator (CNG). The CNG
	structure was largely overcome by the advent of the Simon Bolivar Guerrilla Coordinator
	(SBGC), which the EPL also joined.

	The Maoist ideological stance continues to appeal to a small circle of university-based
	intellectuals who provide aid to the terrorist movement. The group remains active despite
	damaging arrests and retains influence in Bogota, Convencion, Medellin, Cali, Popayan,
	Pereira, and Tierra Alta.


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