Mexican authorities announced on Thursday that they are investigating whether the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a leftist guerilla group in Mexico, received training from the FARC, reports El Espectador.
Speaking at the first Western Hemisphere Conference on the Fight Against Kidnapping, held in Bogota, an official from the Mexican delegation who wished to remain anonymous said that kidnappings in his country has evolved in such a way that authorities have begun to think that the Mexican guerilla group received training from the FARC.
The Mexican official spoke about cases of kidnappings lasting up to two years, which he claimed requires a highly trained and well-financed organization to successfully hold a victim for such a long time.
In 2009, Mexico witnessed 1,300 kidnappings, according to NGO Alto al Secuestro.
The Popular Revolutionary Army (Ejercito Popular Revolucionario) is a leftist guerilla movement founded in 1996 in the south-Mexican state of Guerrero. Declaring war against the central Mexican government, the EPR share a similiar ideology to the FARC.
The two-day Fight Against Kidnapping conference, which started on Wednesday, was attended by 70 delegates from 13 countries across the continent who are responsible for combating kidnappings in their respective countries.
