Army Troops Hunt Self-Proclaimed Rebels In Mexico

Troops searched the southern state of Guerrero on Saturday for masked members of a self-proclaimed rebel army that emerged from the mountains and called for the overthrow of Mexico’s government.

Pelted by rain from Hurricane Boris, soldiers manned a highway checkpoint between the district center of Coyuca de Benitez and Acapulco, 25 miles southwest. Usually, only a few policemen staff the post to check travelers for drugs.

Other troops were on patrol, seeking to arrest the militants on weapons charges - possession of the AK-47 and AR-15 rifles that the rebels fired when they burst into a memorial service Friday for peasants slain by state police last year, military spokesman Col. Andres Alviso said.

The militants declared themselves a new rebel group formed to topple the government. Publicly at least, officials took a cautious approach, suggesting that the Popular Revolutionary Army may be merely a few dozen uniform-clad bandits despite their manifesto of rebellion.

Locals weren’t so sure.

“It’s a guerrilla group. I don’t know who they are and I know most of the people who live up there,” said farmer Rogelio Ramos, who lives near Aguas Blancas. “We don’t know what they want or what their program is.”

Members of the group told reporters that they were about 500 strong and had joined together after the killings in Aguas Blancas.

The group rises up not far from the birthplace of the most serious Mexican rebel movement of the 1970s, Atoyac de Alvarez.