Omar Guerrero Solís commander Ramiro 17th anniversary of assassination, Digi Mart USA News (Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico): On the 17th anniversary of the killing of Omar Guerrero Solís, known as “commander Ramiro” of the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo Insurgente (ERPI), former comrades in arms and friends said the crime remains unpunished and that Mexico maintains a “repressive structure.”
Guerrero Solís joined a guerrilla group in Guerrero at the age of 14, first with the Partido Obrero Clandestino Unión del Pueblo/Partido de los Pobres (Procup/Pdlp), then with the Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR), and finally co-founded the ERPI. Several former comrades and friends visited his grave in the new cemetery near the airport to lay a wreath of flowers.
Efrén Cortés Chávez, a former comrade in arms in the guerrilla with “Ramiro,” described Guerrero Solís as “a man who learned from the people, a peasant who was self-taught, who learned in daily struggle.” He said Guerrero Solís had to act against “a regime as repressive and criminal as the Mexican regime,” and that the federal government’s repressive structure remains in place today.
Cortés Chávez said Guerrero Solís was commander of an ERPI column based in the mountains of the Costa Grande sierra, and that he became “commander Ramiro” because the people chose him. He was killed in an ambush near the community of Palos Grandes, municipality of Ajuchitlán del Progreso, in an attack allegedly led by Cayetano Alvarado Palacios, known as “Cuche Blanco,” and seven other gunmen.
Cortés Chávez said Guerrero Solís was regarded as a national security problem and that intelligence and security agencies had targeted him before his death, describing the case as one that remains unpunished. He added that he and other former guerrilla fighters are fortunate to be alive, and that it is their duty to preserve the memory and history of Ramiro as a expression of the people’s struggle.
