Mexico Confirms Terror Attacks on Gas Pipelines
Pastor Dale Morgan
Jul 10, 6:59 PM EDT
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Mexico Confirms Terror Attacks on Gas Pipelines*
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's government on Tuesday called a series of
gas pipeline explosions a threat to the nation's democratic institutions
and vowed to step up security after a guerrilla group claimed
responsibility for the blasts.
The Interior Department said it would take measures to protect
"strategic installations" across Mexico after an explosion Tuesday at a
pipeline run by the state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and two
other blasts that rocked gas ducts on Thursday.
"The Mexican government categorically condemns the attacks against Pemex
facilities. This criminal conduct aims to weaken democratic
institutions, the patrimony of Mexicans and the safety of their
families," the statement said.
While officials said investigations were continuing into the cause of
the blasts, the statement by the Interior Department - responsible for
domestic security - came a short time after a small guerrilla group said
its members had planted explosives on the pipelines.
The Interior Department statement did not specifically confirm the
group's responsibility, but it ruled out any accidental cause.
The rebel statement said "three combined squads of urban and rural units
... have carried out surgical harassment actions by placing eight
explosive packs on the Pemex pipelines." Posted on a Web site that
serves as a clearinghouse for bulletins from armed groups, the statement
demanded the release of two men detained in southern Oaxaca state in
May, and others it identified as "political prisoners."
The city was seized by leftist groups for five months in 2006 before
federal police broke up barricades and protest camps in October and
arrested dozens.
While guerrilla groups in Colombia have regularly attacked energy
facilities, the tactic hasn't been used much in Mexico until now.
It was impossible to independently confirm the claim, made by the
"military zone command of the People's Revolutionary Army," or EPR, a
tiny group that has largely been inactive in recent years. However, a
breakaway faction of the same group had issued similar demands in a
communique sent to The Associated Press in June.
Tuesday's explosion forced the evacuation of communities around the town
of Coroneo, near the central city of Queretaro, but caused no damage
outside of the pipeline's installations, Pemex said in statement.
Service was suspended on the 36-inch pipeline that runs between Mexico
City and Guadalajara. The company didn't say when it would be restored.
On July 5, two explosions at another Pemex pipeline in the nearby
Guanajuato state forced evacuations but caused no injuries.
That blast forced the temporary suspension of work at a Honda car plant
in the city of Guadalajara, the government news agency Notimex reported
Tuesday.
The EPR staged several armed attacks in southern Mexico in the 1990s.
Tuesday's statement was signed both by the EPR and a splinter group
known as the People's Democratic Revolutionary Party.