SUMMARY
EPL (Ejército Popular de Liberación; Popular Liberation Army) was founded in 1967 as an offshoot and the armed branch of the main communist party of Colombia. The founders of EPL disagreed with the Communist party’s revisionist ideology, which was influenced by the Soviet Union. EPL had a more pro-China direction in its aim to radically transform social and political life with a Marxist-Leninist ideology. The group wanted to create a socialist state and fought the Government of Colombia militarily to bring about social, political and economical changes.
EPL was formed in the provinces of Antioquia and Cordoba and its activity focused mainly on the northern parts of Colombia with a strong presence in Caldas, La Guajira and Norte de Santander. During the 1970’s the group was responsible for sabotage attacks, kidnappings and bomb attacks, mainly in the cities in these areas. Propaganda from China was spread in urban areas, but, like other guerrilla groups at that time, EPL didn’t reach the countryside with either attacks or ideological campaigns. In early 1980s EPL began to distance itself from its former Maoist principles and built up a presence also in rural areas and in the regions of Catatumbo and Putumayo as well as in other countries like Venezuela and Ecuador.
While there is no verifiable information about support to the group coming from an external state, EPL co-existed with several other leftist armed groups, also fighting the Colombian government, and there were various attempts at cooperation and coordination between them. Already in the late 1970s, the group started working alongside ELN and M-19. However, at the time, this caused disagreements within the movement as a small circle of university-based intellectuals still believed in the pro-Chinese ideological stance, which was the founding ideology of the group. EPL was part of the National Guerrilla Coordinating Group (CNG), a coalition of guerrilla forces, FARC, ELN, M-19, the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT) and the Comando Quintín Lame, formed in 1985 with the intention to develop comprehensive political and military strategies. In 1987 CNG was restructured as the Simon Bolivar Guerilla Coordinating Board (CGSB). EPL was part of the alliance until it dissolved in the early 1990s.
Francisco Caraballo, one of the founders of the group, was the main leader of EPL until he was arrested in 1994. The group numbered between 2000 and 3000 fighters at its peak years in the mid- 1970’s and early 1990’s.
In 1990, EPL split over the issue of negotiations with the government. While parts of the group’s leadership, including the general staff, as well as the bulk of the fighters opted for a negotiated settlement, a faction under former EPL leader Francisco Caraballo remained opposed to a peaceful settlement of the conflict and broke away from the mother group. They continued the armed struggle under the name EPL-Megateo (the alias of the leader who took over after Caraballo), or ‘Libardo Mora Front’ (Libardo Mora Toro was one of the founders of EPL). Anibal Palacios was appointed to continue the negotiations with the government and on 15 February 1991 a peace agreement was signed. The agreement legalized EPL as a political party and guaranteed it representation in the National Assembly. Most of EPL’s members demobilized in 1991 and formed the Hope, Peace and Liberty (Esperanza, Paz y Libertad) party.
