Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo ("Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army", or FARC-EP), classified internationally as a terrorist group, is Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable and equipped militant guerrilla group, established in 1964-1966 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. FARC has been estimated to have roughly 12,000 to 18,000 members and maintains presence in approximately 35 to 40% of Colombia's territory, mostly in the jungles of the southeast and the plains at the base of the Andes mountains.

Recent history - back to the war

For most of the period between 2002 and 2004, the FARC-EP was believed to be in a relative / temporary strategic withdrawal due to the increasing military and police actions of new hardline president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, which led to the capture or desertion of many fighters and medium-level commanders, one of the most important of which has been that of "Simón Trinidad" (Juvenal Ovidio Palmera Pineda) in January 2004, a former banker turned rebel, who had participated as a high-profile negotiator in the recent Pastrana peace talks, and who was also part of the central command of the organization.

Related Topics:
Álvaro Uribe Vélez - Simón Trinidad - January 2004

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During the first two years of the Uribe administration, the strength of several FARC fronts, mostly notably in Cundinamarca and Antioquia, was broken by the government's military operations, and several analysts reported that many of the other FARC structures, while mostly intact, reverted back to guerrilla warfare, using "hit and run" tactics against targets of opportunity and the weaker links in the military's defenses.

Related Topics:
Cundinamarca - Antioquia

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An article in the respected Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo on June 12, 2004 reported that Guillermo León Sánchez (aka "Alfonso Cano") had apparently been elected commander-in-chief by the estado mayor central (central command), with the blessing of Manuel Marulanda Vélez. When questioned about the matter by interviews, different FARC spokesmen have, both directly and indirectly, tended to dismiss this claim.

Related Topics:
Bogotá - El Tiempo - June 12 - 2004 - Guillermo León Sánchez - Manuel Marulanda Vélez

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In June 2004, 34 coca farmers were found bound hand and foot and shot with automatic weapons. Blame was placed on the FARC-EP by the government, and after several days of uncertainty the FARC-EP publicly claimed responsibility for the massacre, saying they had killed the farmers for being supporters of right-wing paramilitaries and accusing the government of shedding "crocodile tears" for their deaths. The United Nations condemned the massacre as a war crime. After the FARC's communique was made public, other human rights organizations likewise rejected the event and called on the Colombian government to protect villagers from the guerrillas.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3817455.stm

Related Topics:
June 2004 - Coca - Automatic weapons - United Nations - War crime

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Another incident occurred on July 10, 2004, when the FARC allegedly assassinated seven peasants (Francisco Giraldo, Carlos Torres, José Velásquez, Israel Velásquez, Mauricio Herrera, John Jairo Usuga and Pablo Usuga), in Samaná, near the municipality of San Carlos, Antioquia, according to the mayor of San Carlos, Colombian authorities and witnesses to the event.

Related Topics:
July 10 - 2004 - Antioquia

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The victims of the massacre were labourers who had returned to the zone after being forcefully displaced by the FARC earlier, presumably due to military or paramilitary activity in the area. They were apparently murdered because they had not received permission from the FARC to return yet, according to witnesses. The July 10 massacre provoked a further exodus of at least 80 persons from the surrounding rural area towards the urban locality of San Carlos.

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On July 13, 2004, the office of the United Nations's High Commissioner for Human Rights publicly condemned this further act of violence and the ensuing displacement, accusing the FARC of violating article 17 of the additional Protocol II of the Geneva Convention and of international humanitarian law, expressing its solidarity towards the families of the victims.

Related Topics:
July 13 - 2004 - United Nations - High Commissioner for Human Rights - Geneva Convention

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The office reminded the FARC, which in the past has publicly rejected the legal applicability of the Geneva Convention to its case (though it also claims to be following most of its directives anyway), that these principles must be followed by any person or group of persons, independent of their legal condition.

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http://www.acnur.org/pais/index.php?accion=pag&id=2663&iso2=CO

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http://www.hchr.org.co/publico/comunicados/2004/cp0423.pdf

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http://www.diariolavoz.net/seccion.asp?pid=18&sid=1755¬id=91084&fecha=07/14/2004

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According to the AP news agency, on August 18, 2004, a Colombian arms broker, Carlos Gamarra Murillo, arrested on April 1, 2004 in Tampa, Florida, USA, was charged with attempting to buy $4 million in rocket launchers, machine guns, and other heavy weapons and ammunition for the FARC, which would have been paid for with 2 tons of cocaine (worth 60% of the total amount, according to investigators) and cash.

Related Topics:
AP - August 18 - 2004 - April 1 - Tampa - Florida - USA

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The weapons would then have been shipped through Venezuela, according to investigators. US Attorney General John Ashcroft stated that Gamarra "attempted to provide the fuel to feed a dangerous foreign terrorist organization". Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief Michael Garcia signaled the indictment as "a significant achievement".

Related Topics:
US Attorney General - John Ashcroft

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Gamarra apparently made contact with an undercover informant in Colombia in March 2003, according to an ICE agent who testified in April. Gamarra is currently held without bail after heading to Tampa in order to meet U.S. agents posing as weapons dealers. During the next year, it is alleged that he met and called the agents in order to arrange the weapons shipment and also inquired about buying surface-to-air missiles, presumably for use against Colombian military helicopters and other aircraft.http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040820/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombian_arms&e=4

Related Topics:
March 2003 - Surface-to-air missiles

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On November 27, 2004, Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Alberto Uribe told reporters that apparently the FARC leadership had secretly commanded their followers to attempt to attack visiting U.S. President George W. Bush during his visit to the city of Cartagena, according to intelligence reports. It was mentioned that any such intentions were made impractical by the presence of about 15,000 members of the Colombian security forces in the area, in addition to U.S. security personnel. No specific evidence (such as the content of the intelligence reports) that FARC actually managed to organize such an attack has been publicly released. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=286638 Interior and Justice Minister Sabas Pretelt later downplayed the comments, stating that he had no specific details about any concrete assassination plots directed against President Bush and the FARC strongly denied the accusation, blaming it on US intelligence sources. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4063797.stm

Related Topics:
November 27 - 2004 - Defense Minister - Jorge Alberto Uribe - George W. Bush - Cartagena

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In early February 2005, a series of small scale military actions by the FARC around the southwestern departments of Colombia, which resulted in an estimated 40 casualties (dead and wounded) for the Colombian security forces, were interpreted by many Colombian analysts as evidence of their remaining strength and as signs of a possible comeback for the group, signaling what could become the potential beginning of more offensive operations and the end of what was termed as their strategic withdrawal. The FARC-EP, in response to government military operations in the south and in the southeast, would now be displacing its military center of gravity towards the Nariño, Putumayo and Cauca departments.

Related Topics:
February - 2005 - Center of gravity - Nariño - Putumayo - Cauca

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It was speculated that these actions, and those that might follow later into the year, could be directed towards undermining the advances made by the policies of the Uribe administration, as a possible means to weaken Uribe's chances in the future 2006 electoral contest, where he was expected to run for reelection. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4252071.stm

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New Strategy in 2005

In early 2005, the FARC launched what has been interpreted as their active response to Alvaro Uribe's security strategy and to Plan Patriota, apparently adopting a new style of operations, in particular near the southwest of Colombia.

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The FARC allegedly would have previously implemented what was later called "Plan Resistencia" in order to endure Plan Patriota's continuing effects, by withdrawing into the jungle and executing a temporary halt in its larger scale attacks. The FARC believe that Plan Patriota has been a failure, as mentioned in some of their communiques.

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Between 1996 and 1998, and even until 2000, the FARC had executed large scale multi-front attacks. The FARC's newer attacks are different, consisting of what have been called medium-size unit concentrations, considered to be potentially more flexible against Colombian military action but still able to pack a substantial punch.

Related Topics:
1996 - 1998 - 2000

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2005 Military Attacks

In February 2005 the FARC attacked the Iscuandé marine base in southwestern Colombia, killing 16 and wounding 25 marines. Allegedly, later investigations suggested that the FARC had bribed or infiltrated some of its members or sympathizers inside the base for intelligence gathering purposes.

Related Topics:
February - 2005

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On April 6th the FARC clashed with an elite counterguerilla unit which had been trained by U.S. Special Forces, or "Green Berets" in the oil rich Arauca departmen, killing 17 of the men in a military convoy, including some of the unit's commanding officers.

Related Topics:
April 6 - U.S. Special Forces - Arauca

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On April 14th 2005, the FARC attacked Toribio, a predominantly indigenous town in the Cauca department and at one point prolonged "face to face" fighting took place with Colombian security forces, overall combat operations lasting for about a month in the surrounding area.

Related Topics:
April 14 - 2005 - Cauca

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The Colombian government's defense minister sacked four top generals of the Colombian military sometime after the Cauca attack, arguing that disagreements about the military's future implementation of joint command structures would not be tolerated. A few analysts suggested that this could also be due to a disagreement regarding the military's strategy against the FARC in Cauca, but this was not confirmed.

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Since May 2005, a couple of Colombian press reports in the daily El Tiempo alluded to the possible announcement of a FARC "final offensive", to occur at some unspecified point in the future. Specific details have been unclear, some believing that this was mostly a boast. Others have speculated that this could be the ultimate goal of the FARC's newest offensive, aiming to eventually escalate its military operations towards the May 2006 elections, in order to contribute to discrediting Uribe's policies before public and international opinion.

Related Topics:
May - 2005 - 2006

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From June 24th, the FARC attacked military positions in the location of Puerto Asís in the Putumayo department, killing 25 and wounding 20 in a single operation, one of the biggest attacks since 2000. In July, the FARC decreed what they termed as an "armed strike" (paro armado), demanding that all transport in Putumayo's roads should grind to a halt, or else. Most civilians and commercial vehicles accepted this demand. Food and supply shortages were felt in many of Putumayo's towns, in Puerto Asís and Mocoa.

Related Topics:
June 24 - 2000 - July

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Some reports alleged that the FARC would have been able to gain control over most of the area of the department during the bulk of its operations, though it soon had to face pressure from incoming Colombian Army troops, resulting in intense clashes. Most of the roads were once again free for traffic by the end of August 2005. Towards the beginning of September, the FARC also blew up several key electricity towers in the department. Smaller scale fighting still continued into September.

Related Topics:
August - 2005 - September

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