FARC - Violence in Colombia
Recent Activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
Founded between 1964 and 1966, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym FARC, is an active anti-government rebel group, seeking to forward its Marxist-Leninist goals through the use of violence and kidnappings of prominent politicians and private citizens. For more than forty years FARC has waged war against institutionalized democratic government in Colombia. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia leaders state that their goal is the creation of a communist-agrarian society at the expense of current capitalist and democratic structures.
FARC History
FARC's foundation began as far back as 1948, when the head of the Liberal Party in Colombia, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was assassinated. Riots broke out throughout Colombia as a result of the political killing, triggering a decade of violence known as "La Violencia," during which more than 200,000 Colombians were killed or disappeared and more than $1 billion in government and personal property was destroyed.
During La Violencia, Manuel Marulanda Vález, known by the nickname "Tirojifo," started a peasant guerilla army to fight against the conservative Colombian government. Marulanda helped to form a peasant cooperative called Marquetalia, which grew to more than 1,000 members. FARC was born in the mid 1960s when Colombian troops used napalm to destroy the collective during a government-approved campaign to eradicate Colombian rebel groups.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have criticized FARC sharply for the organization's use of child soldiers in its paramilitary activities and for the intimidation and killing of coca farmers. In 1999 FARC kidnapped and killed three U.S. citizens, triggering international condemnation. In 2002 the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kidnapped Irene Betancourt, a candidate for the presidency. Held hostage for nearly six years, Betancourt and fourteen other hostages were freed in 2008 when Colombian security forces secured their release after receiving help from FARC informants.
FARC leader Manuel Marulanda Vález, died in 2008, leaving international observers and terrorism experts to question whether FARC would maintain cohesion and its campaign of violence in Colombia.
FARC Today and Colombian Politics
In 2008 and 2009 FARC initiated a renewed series of hostage-taking and violence in Colombia. In March 2008 both Venezuela and Ecuador cut off all diplomatic ties with Colombia when the Colombian government crossed into Ecuador and bombed suspected FARC camps without prior approval from the Ecuadoran government.
Venezuela later resumed diplomatic ties, while Ecuador and Colombia remain in a tense standoff over the issue of territorial sovereignty and controlling FARC activities. In July 2009 the Colombian government sent alleged evidence of FARC financial support for Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa's presidential campaign to Interpol for investigation. Correa denied the accusation.
In that same month the Colombian government accused Venezuela of funneling weapons to FARC rebels, prompting Venezuelan President Chavez to once against cut diplomatic ties with Colombia.
As of October 2009, both Ecuador and Venezuela remain cut off from Colombia diplomatically as a result of FARC rebel action and reaction to the Colombian government's response. To read more about Venezuelan-Colombian current events, read Chavez Sends Troops to Colombian Border.
References:
"FARC" in Extremist Groups, eds. Lerner, K. Lee and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Thomson Gale: Farmington Hills, MI, 2005.
Flag of FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces Colombia
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Politics & Society
Latest Articles