In a Modernizing Mexico, Blasts Reveal Shadowy Side

wsj ^ | Wednesday, November 14, 2007 | JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA

[Coleus]

On May 25, somewhere in central Mexico, two middle-aged Mexican men vanished. A week later, a shadowy Marxist guerrilla group that had been dormant for a few years issued the first of 14 communiqués identifying the men as their "comrades." The Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, blamed the Mexican government for their abduction.

"They were taken alive, and we want them back alive," the communiqué said. Above the statement were blurry photographs of the pair, one a burly, mustachioed man named Gabriel Cruz Sánchez, and the other, Edmundo Reyes, whose spectacles and tie gave him the mien of a mild-mannered bank manager. The guerrillas warned of dire consequences if the men were harmed, but no one paid much attention.

That changed on July 6 and again on July 10 when the EPR blew up natural-gas pipelines belonging to state oil giant Petróleos Mexicanos, cutting off gas supplies across central Mexico. On Sept. 10, the EPR struck again, setting off 12 simultaneous explosions on gas pipelines. As flames shot up hundreds of feet in the air, thousands of Mexicans fled their homes. The attacks cut gas supplies for days to some 3,000 companies, idling plants of Nissan Motor Co., Honda Motor Corp. and others. The bill in lost economic output was about $1.6 billion, according to Canacintra, Mexico's leading manufacturers' association.

[Brad from Tennessee]

From the description of the EPR it sounds like they would be blowing things up even if their comrades weren’t missing.

[sidegunner]

Possibly the EPR needed a reason for action...and planted their comrades in a shallow grave.

[-=SoylentSquirrel=-]

The way I see it, almost all of Mexican society and culture is a shadowy side.

Pinatas, tequila, and their great cuisine are about the only aspects I don't consider "shadowy".

Well, maybe quincenieras, the celebration of an adolescent girls' entry into the adult world, signifying she is of marriagable age. Oh wait, there is something shadowy about a grown man wanting to have sex with a fifteen-yr-old girl.

Never mind.