EPR, a Marxist guerrilla group in Mexico, has been bombing pipelines in retaliation for the apparent abduction of two members. Their Sept. 10 bombing caused $1.6 billion in economic damage.

But there is a fundamental problem: Nobody seems to know what happened to the two men. The government denies holding them. The EPR doesn’t know who has them, either, judging by its communiqués that shift blame from one government entity to another.

Increasing political unrest in Mexico, coupled with entire areas effectively under control of drug lords, has given EPR ample room to organize in, as well as get financing. (Underground revolutionary groups need money like everyone else, and since normal avenues are closed to them, crime is the time-honored and perhaps only way they can raise money.)

Their avowed goal is to start an uprising, with authorities expecting a third wave of attacks. An amorphous non-state actor inflicting major damage on a vastly larger opponent - this is 4th generation warfare.

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