Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo

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FARC (or FARC-EP) is the abbreviation of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo. This is the name of a guerrilla organisation operating in Colombia. The group says it has Marxist- Leninist roots. When the name of the group is translated into English, it usually reads Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army.

The government of Colombia[1], the United States[2], Canada[3] and the European Union[4][5] have classified the organisation as a terrorist group. Other countries, such as Ecuador,[6] Brazil,[7] Argentina,[8] Chile,[9] Cuba and Venezuela do not see the group as terrorist. They instead refer to the group as “insurgents”.[needs proving] Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for example, publicly rejected this classification of terrorists in January of 2008. He called on Colombia and other world governments to recognize the guerrillas as a belligerent force. Chávez said that if they were recognised that way, they would then be obliged to stop kidnappings and terror acts in order to respect the Geneva Conventions.[10][11]

The FARC was established in the 1960s as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. The group started as a guerrilla movement. It became involved with trading illegal drugs during the 1980s.[12] This caused an official separation from the Communist Party and the formation of a political structure it calls the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party.[needs proving] The FARC-EP still claims to be a guerrilla movement. According to the Colombian government, FARC has an estimated 6,000-8,000 members in 2008, down from 16,000 in 2001.[13] Other estimates are higher, including up to 18,000 guerrillas, with the FARC themselves claiming in a 2007 interview that they have not been weakened.[14] The FARC-EP is present in 15-20 percent of Colombia’s territory. Most of them are in southeastern jungles and in plains at the base of the Andes mountains.[15]

[change] References

  1. ↑ The Democratic government of Colombia define : "All the violent groups in Colombia are Terrorists": Presidencia de la Republica de Colombia.
  2. ↑ The United States Department of State includes the FARC-EP on its list of foreign terrorist organizations: U.S. Department of State – Comprehensive List of Terrorists and Groups Identified Under Executive Order 13224
  3. ↑ Presidence of the Republic of Colombia – FARC, ELN and AUC in the list of terrorist groups of Canada.
  4. ↑ European Union – FARC, ELN and AUC in the list of terrorist groups of E.U.)
  5. ↑ Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 [1]. Accessed February 20, 2008.
  6. ↑ Ecuador ratifica FARC no son terroristas (Spanish). Aporre.org.
  7. ↑ FARC: Colombia y Brasil en desacuerdo (Spanish). BBC Mundo.
  8. ↑ Titanes en la Cumbre después de la batalla (Spanish). Martín Piqué, Pagina/12.
  9. ↑ Titanes en la Cumbre después de la batalla (Spanish). Martín Piqué, Pagina/12.
  10. ↑ Chávez: Beligerancia a las FARC sólo bajo convenios de Ginebra
  11. ↑ Chávez proposal about the FARC creates deep analysis in Mexican press
  12. ↑ "Colombia’s most powerful rebels", BBC News, September 19, 2003. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
  13. ↑ "“Colombia’s rebels: A fading force?”", BBC News, February 1, 2008. Retrieved on 4 February 2008.
  14. ↑ "Interview with FARC Commander Raul Reyes.", Colombiajournal.org, July 12, 2007.. Retrieved on 27 February 2008.
  15. ↑ Leonard, Thomas M. (October 2005). Encyclopedia Of The Developing World. Routledge, 1362. ISBN 1-57958388-1. 
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