FARC

FARC –  The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

 

 

 

History & Background – FARC

The FARC is the oldest and largest group among Colombia’s left-wing rebels and is one of the world’s richest guerrilla armies. The group’s roots can be traced back to the Liberal guerrilla bands of La Violencia – the civil war between the Liberal and Conservative parties that raged from 1948 until 1958.

FARC became disillusioned with the leadership of the Liberal Party and turned to communism.  One of the guerilla bands was led by Manuel “Sureshot” Marulanda (real name Pedro Antonio Marin) who baptized his group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 1966.  The group is still active today.

Economy & Globalization – Globalization changed FARC from a revolutionary communist movement in the 1960’s, to a drug-trafficking group in the 1980’s and to a Bolivarian movement in the 2000’s. It has also changed FARC in the way that they obtain their resources to survive.  The world is changing every day and the new tools that technology provides are some elements that help the FARC to succeed.  It is estimated that FARC takes in $500 – $600 million annual from illegal drug trade.  It also profits from kidnappings, extortion schemes, and an unofficial “tax” it levies in the countryside for “protection” and social services.

According to a U.S. justice department indictment in 2006, the FARC supplies more than 50% of the world’s cocaine and more than 60% of the cocaine entering the United States.

The FARC will likely continue its guerrilla insurgency to maintain pressure on the government and generate an atmosphere of instability and insecurity in an attempt to force negotiations and political concessions from the government.

Major Attacks – FARC

1. June 16, 1996 – In the La Babarra Massacre, FARC guerrillas executed villagers who worked in a cocaine plantation run by right-wing paramilitary groups (34 killed)
2. August 30, 1996 – The FARC’s Southern Bloc assaulted the Las Delicias military base in SW Colombia, near the Ecuadorian border (28 killed, 16 injured, 60 prisoners)
3. August 3, 1998 – the Siege of Miraflores lasted over 20 hours when 500 guerrillas attacked the anti-narcotics police base (9 killed, 10 injured, 22 captured)
4. November 1998 – The FARC launched a 3-day offensive against the remote city of Mitu where 700 – 800 guerrillas sieged the town’s police headquarters (51 killed, 47 injured, 61 police kidnapped)
5. May 2002 – Bojaya Massacre where guerillas attacked a town held by AUC paramilitaries, indiscriminately mortaring and shooting both AUC militants and civilians (119 killed)
6. February 7, 2003 – FARC guerrillas drove a car bomb into El Nogal club (36 killed)
7. February 11, 2009 – Narino Massacres, FARC guerrillas tortured and executed members of the in indigenous Awa people who they accused of collaborating with the Colombian military (27 killed)
8. 2010 – FARC killed at least 460 members of the security forces, while wounding more than 2,000, according to state statistics.
9. 2011 & 2012 – Since May 15, 2011, daily attacks occurred, many times more than one per day.
10. July 20, 2013 – Two rebel attacks on government positions killed 19 soldiers and an unspecified number of combatants. It was the deadliest day since peace talks began in November 2012.
11. November 16, 2014 – Colombian General Ruben Dario Alzate kidnapped by FARC in a small village close to the provincial capital of Quibdó.
12. December 19, 2014 – 5 soldiers were killed and 7 injured in the aftermath of a FARC ambush in the Cauca province.

Deaths of several top commanders recently has weakened FARC operations.

1. 2008 – Manuel “Sureshot” Marulanda, the group’s founder and long time leader died of a heart attack.
2. 2008 – The rescue by the military of 15 high-profile hostages, including the former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, was the most dramatic setback.
3. President Alvaro Uribe who was re-elected in 2006, launched an unprecendented offensive against the FARC with the support of U.S. military aid.
4. Sept 2010 – Jorge Briceno, also known as Mono Jojoy, was killed in a raid on his jungle camp in the eastern region of Macarena.

According to the Colombian government, FARC decreased in size from about 16,000 fighters in 2001 to about 8,000.

FARC Recruiting Children

The Unit for Justice and Peace, part of the Prosecutor General’s Office, released a 60-page report stating that recruiting children had been a FARC policy since the group’s early days in the 1960’s.

The study looked at 3,000 former FARC child soldiers.  1,637 did not state when they were recruited, but provided detailed information concerning the other 1,363 cases.  Of them, 932 were boys, and just 51% joined voluntarily.

• 175 children joined for money
• 133 because they were threatened
•   94 joined because of problems at home
•   86 because they were unemployed
•   35 out of a fixation with guns
•   21 because of boredom and curiosity

Most of them had not passed 5th grade and 76 were illiterate.

The study says that of the 1,363 demobilized children who gave detailed information about their involvement in the FARC:

• 489 were used as soldiers,
• 74 as explosives experts,
• 65 negotiated arms deals, and
• 47 were involved in kidnappings.

26 of the children admitted to having killed someone.

Culture of Colombia

Political Background – Two opposing groups dominated the political history of Colombia since independence – the Liberal Party (PL) and the Conservative Party (PSC).  The groups were historically linked to the followers of Colombia’s liberator and first president, Simón Bolívar..  The PSC helped to create a strong centralized government whereas the PL contributed a separation of church and state and universal suffrage to the political landscape.

Colombian politics is marked by extraordinary violence where citizens resort to arms to resolve political differences.  During the 1990 campaign, three presidential candidates were assassinated. The election of Cesar Gaviria in 1990 brought an opportunity for political peace. A new Constitution was written in 1991, and several guerrilla groups entered the political arena after being demobilized. By that time, drug lords had come to replace guerrilla leaders as the main threat to political and social stability.  The leader of the powerful Medellín drug cartel, was imprisoned but eventually managed to escape. At that point, Gaviria declared war on drug cartels and was killed in a 1993 confrontation.

Demand for drugs in the United States remained high, and the influence of drug lords contaminated the country. The 1994 presidential elections showed the extent to which drugs had invaded every aspect of the nation’s life. Liberal candidate Ernesto Samper won the election, but accusations of drug-related campaign financing almost toppled his government months after his inauguration.

Conservative candidate Andrés Pastrana ran on a peace platform in the 1998 presidential election promising to reduce conflicts with guerrilla groups and drug cartels. Four years later, crime and violence increased and the influence of cartels had grown.

The United States developed the Plan Colombia strategy with the Pastrana government to aid the Colombian military to combat the illegal production of cocaine. Implementation of the multi-year plan began in 2001, but critics claimed that it would lead to a civil war and to the occupation of Colombia by U.S. troops. The 2002 presidential elections were primarily about strategies to put an end to violence and to effectively combat the growing influence of drug cartels in Colombian society.

Geographical Area –   Because of its natural structure, Colombia can be divided into six very distinct natural regions.

1. Amazon Region – comprises the part South of the eastern region of Colombia, flat low-lying region.
2. Andean Region – The Colombian part of the Andes, including inter-Andean valleys of Cauca and Magdalena Rivers.
3. Caribbean Region – The region of the Colombian Caribbean coastal plains and mountainous groups which do not belong to the Andes.
4. Insular Region – comprises the areas outside the continental territories of Colombia in the Caribbean region as the islands of San Andrés and Providencia and the islands of Gorgona and Malpelo in the Pacific Ocean.
5. Orinoquia Region – North of the eastern region of Colombia that belongs to the Orinoco River watershed, flat low-lying region.
6. It Pacific Region – includes the coastal plains of the pacific coast and the mountainous groups which do not belong to the Andes.

Colombia did not receive substantial immigration after the period of Spanish rule except for the Barranquilla, an Atlantic port city.  Small groups of Lebanese, Italian, Dutch, German, Catalan, Syrian-Lebanese-Palestinian, French, and Chinese immigrants settled in the city and played a large role in its development.

Religion -Colombians are notable for their acceptance of other creeds and faith. Based on various studies and a survey, about 90% of the population adheres to Christianity, 70.9% are Roman Catholic, 16.7%  are Protestantism (primarily Evangelicalism), 4.7% are Atheists and Agnostics, 3.5% claim to believe in God, but they don’t believe in religion.

While Colombia remains a mostly Roman Catholic country by baptism numbers, the 1991 Colombian constitution guarantees freedom and equality of religion.

Education –  Children begin with a preschool academy until age five.  Basic education is compulsory by law and is made up of two stages: Primary basic education (first to fifth grade/children from six to ten years old), and Secondary basic education (sixth to ninth grade). Basic education is followed by Middle vocational education that comprises the tenth and eleventh grades.

After the successful completion of all the basic and middle education years, a high-school diploma is awarded.  High-school graduates may enter into a professional undergraduate career program offered by a university. In Colombia, there is not an institution such as college; students go directly into a career program at a university or any other educational institution to obtain a professional, technical or technological title. Once graduated from the university, people are granted a diploma and licensed (if required) to practice the career they have chosen.

Public spending on education as a proportion of gross domestic product in 2012 was 4.4%. This represented 15.8% of total government expenditure. A total of 93.6% of the population aged 15 and older were recorded as literate, including 98.2% of those aged 15–24.

Family -The family is a highly important institution to Colombians as engraved by the traditional Roman Catholic church teachings. Members of the extended family are close and children rarely move far away from their parents.

Traditionally, men were the head of the household, in charge of earning most of the family’s income, while women were responsible for cooking, housework and raising children. However, as in most cultures around the world, the 20th century brought forth a great empowerment for women who were given a right to vote during the 1950s.  The Constitution of 1991 gave a wider opportunity for women, and today, the majority of families have two working parents due to the need of an income to sustain a family.

Food – There is a large variety of dishes that take into account the difference in regional climates.

How will FARC end?

Civil conflict in Colombia has left as many as 220,000 dead and 5.7 million displaced over the last half century.  Territorial disputes among the military, left-wing guerrillas, and right-wing paramilitaries have wracked much of the country’s rural areas even as Colombia’s economy has surged and overall violence has decreased.  Renewed talks between the government and the FARC and the National Liberation ARMY may end this hemisphere’s longest-running armed conflict.

In the News…… 

April 26, 2015 – Fox New Latino

A soldier was killed in combat with FARC guerrillas on Saturday outside Paez, a city located about 310 miles from Popayan, the capital of Cauca.  FARC attacked an army unit on April 15 in the same province, killing 10 soldiers.  The attack interrupted the unilateral and indefinite cease-fire declared by the FARC on Dec. 20 after more than two years of peace talks with the government in Havana.

April 29, 2015 – UPI.com

According to UPI.com, Colombia arrested seven non-commissioned army personnel accused of trafficking weapons to common criminals, drug organizations and the FARC rebel group.  The weapons trafficked by the accused were stolen from different military groups since 2012 and included over 100,000 cartridges of different ammunition calibers, 1,000 grenades and various weapons.  This capture was a result of an internal investigation that took place after a FARC rebel carrying 8,000 rounds of military ammunition was captured in September 2013.

April 29, 2015 – Colombia News

At peach negotiations Tuesday, FARC denounced the deaths of 19 human rights defenders and threats issued to 249 activists during the first trimester of 2015.  this tripled the amount of threats the same time last year.

Referring to the government of Alvaro Uribe, FARC delegate Commander Pastor Alape said: “In no other country in the world have there been presidents who organize and lead narco-paramilitary armies, or who publicly proclaim before television cameras that they have committed war crimes.”  He also said that the state must meet its obligations under international law, as well as respect its own laws on the matter of protection of human rights.

“It is evident, then, that the Colombian state is an offender state; despite the fact it has sat at the dialogue table for more than two years now with the aim of ending a prolonged political and armed social conflict, it continues to maintain its long-standing habit of failing to comply with its own commitment and its own laws,” said Alape.

The FARC reiterated its commitment to reaching an agreement with Santos government that will end the five-decade long conflict but said this would only be possible if Colombia ceased to be an “offender state”.

Sources:

Encyclopedia of the Nations, World Leaders 2003, Colombia

Council Foreign Relations, CFR Backgrounders, December 1, 2014