Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

544 • POPULAR LIBERATION ARMYleaders in the 1970s led to internal dissent, resulting in an unstablestrategic approach and consequent tactical weakness. An exampleof this instability can be seen in the EPL’s equivocation in choosingto abide by the May 1984 government-sponsored truce, which itadhered to but did not sign.During the late 1970s the EPL engaged in sabotage, bank robberies,kidnappings, and bombings. Many of its military clashes havebeen with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia(FARC), the armed wing of the pro-Moscow PCC. In December1982 the EPL kidnapped a Colombian land magnate for a $2 millionransom. In March 1984 it killed eight peasants accused of being armyinformants as well as killing the mayor of a small town in northwesternColombia. After the EPL leader, Ernesto Rojas, was murdered inMay 1985 by unknown assassins, the EPL ended its tacit compliancewith the May 1984 cease-fire by attacking a town in northeasternColombia, killing four people. In December 1985 the EPL kidnappedtwo U.S. citizens working for Bechtel Corporation; one died in captivitythe following May and the other was later released. In June1986 the EPL bombed the Colombian-Soviet Friendship Institutein Medellín as retaliation for attacks by FARC against EPL forces.The same month the EPL also bombed the Medellín residence of theHonduran consul, who was seriously injured.In early 1987 the EPL turned the Uraba region into one of its moreactive theaters in Colombia and maintained an urban support infrastructurein Bogotá, Cali, Convención, Medellín, Pereira, Popayan,and Tierra Alta. By 1990 it entered a cease-fire and began dialoguewith government mediators. In July 1991 the ELP demobilized followingpeace negotiations with the government and became a politicalparty, Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Hope, Peace and Freedom), buta dissident faction broke off and continued armed struggle. During1994 there were 31 kidnappings attributed to this EPL splinter group.During 1997 it kidnapped 12 mayors for ransom. More recent attacksby the dissident EPL included 12 attacks in the 1990s and 10 attacksfrom 2000 onward, the most recent being an armed assault on a policestation in Norte de Santander on 15 August 2005, resulting in fourfatalities. The members of the Esperanza Party have been attacked byFARC, the National Liberation Army (ELN), and also the dissidentELP faction as being traitors to the revolutionary cause, with about348 Esperanza members having been assassinated after 1991.