Rebel Group Vows to Bring Down Zedillo

ACAPULCO, Mexico —  A splinter group from a guerrilla army has formed its own force to fight President Ernesto Zedillo’s government and install “people’s power,” rebel leaders told journalists.

In the breakaway group’s first interview since reports of its activities began appearing in June, two masked commanders from the little-known People’s Insurgent Revolutionary Army, or ERPI, gave an interview to three Mexican journalists at a secret location in the impoverished southern state of Guerrero over the weekend.

A copy of the interview was obtained by Reuters on Monday.

“We are training like an army and forming insurgent communities. Where are we headed? Towards the construction of people’s power,” said a commander who identified himself as Antonio.

“The strategic objective is to take political power, not by a party, but rather directly by the people,” added the other commander, Santiago.

Antonio and Santiago said they had been members of the high command of the Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, a Marxist group that first appeared in June 1996 and has staged sporadic attacks on the army and police in several southern and central states.

The ERPI first came to light June 7, when 11 people, including four of its fighters, were killed during a six-hour gun battle after the army found them hiding in a schoolhouse in the small town of El Charco.

Authorities say the army was fired on, but Antonio and Santiago said ERPI fighters were killed in a massacre. The vowed bloody revenge on the army.

“We were in a phase of silent preparation when the massacre occurred. . . . This event made us known to national public opinion,” Antonio said, adding that the battle had also forced the ERPI to review its “security measures.”