FARC Case Study

The FARC is Colombia’s largest terror group. The FARC was established in 1964. The FARC began with farmers and agricultural workers who abandoned their positions to fight inequalities in Colombia. The FARC revolves around a Marxist-Leninist ideology. The FARCs early establishment suffered losses within its organization due to consistent military raids conducted by the Columbian Forces in order to disrupt or destroy the group. As the fight continued, those losses changed the leadership constantly through the years. The FARC has adapted and overcame many obstacles as the Colombian Government continues its fight against the terror group. As the fight continued through the years, the FARCs ability to change their tactics and weapons advanced. With more powerful weapons through the years and their ability to become more organized, the FARCs ability to fight back became more powerful.

From the perspective of Colombia, the Colombian government was desperate for foreign aid and international support. Accordingly, the leadership of Colombia was more than eager to permit the United States to become closely involved in the development of a Colombian public policy initiative, even if they risked losing other potential supporters and garnering international criticism (Carpenter, 2003). Also, the peoples of Colombia themselves were favoring a movement for change after more than

Currently, the president of Colombia is Juan Manuel Santos and the vice president is German Vargas LLeras. Throughout the 20th century, Colombia has had conflicts between paramilitary groups such as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (F.A.R.C). According to Frank Safford, Colombia has suffered since the emerged of the paramilitary groups. These groups transport illegal drugs within the country and kidnap and extort to stay financially stable. Therefore, these actions encourage intensive violence in society and led the unrest of the country. The politics in Colombia have not been very pleased for the citizens, but every year quieter. Juan Manuel Santos is making programs to reach peace; however the results have not been submitted

The fact that hundreds of police officers, judges, investigators, presidential candidates, and of course thousands of Colombian citizens are murdered with the attitude of “so it goes” (Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five) shows that their Nation has been very badly damaged, psychologically as well as physically.

Historically, Colombia has opposed the ELN and their attempts at gaining power within the country. However, there has been corruption by government and military officials. The corruption comes in the way of support for the ELN (Stanford, 2012). Regardless of the corruption, the Colombian government is currently making strides to begin peace talks with the ELN in 2014; however, no specific dates have been established. (Insight crime, n.d.).

As Charles Bergquist observes, "Crises in Colombia tend to generate cycles of violence instead of mutations in the political regime." The reason is simple: regime changes in Colombia tend to produce very little change in anything other than nominal rule. Since Colombia's independence from Spain in the early 19th century, Colombia has seen a series of civil wars and secessions (Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama the last coming rather conveniently at a time when the U.S. was prepared to pay millions for a canal through its nation preparation that later resulted in a multi-million dollar redress to Columbia). Colombia's political history, therefore, has been colored by outside influences pulling on the two dominant liberal and conservative parties, with violent exchanges, and long periods of instability being the consequences. While regime changes have occurred, they have not produced significant improvements. Rather, Colombia in the 20th century has become a nesting ground for paramilitary forces and drug traffickers, with U.S. Central Intelligence operatives contributing heavily to the violent conflict that has risen between regimes. This paper will examine the regime types that preceded the Rojas Pinilla regime in mid-20th century Colombia, analyze their similarities and differences, and discuss the extent to which Rojas Pinilla reached his goals and objectives.

Additionally, they provided low level social services to villages, including medical services and schooling. The group funded their efforts by kidnapping members of wealthy families and demanding ransom. By 1970, FARC militants were heavily involved in drug trafficking that enabled them to accumulate large amounts of wealth and weapons. In the early 1980s, the FARC and the Colombian government began peace talks with the goal of reaching a mutual agreement of disarmament of and a change in land reform policy in the

Drug Trafficking, civil unrest, and kidnapping are commonly associated with Colombia. However, a closer look at the South American Country, which is slightly less than two times the size of Texas, reveals not only a very rich culture that centers on fine arts and language preservation, but also a country that strives for economic progress and effective government. All of which is typically overshadowed by the notorious guerilla warfare and drug cartels.

An organized crime group or terrorist group known as FARC is scattered across in remote rural areas or dense jungles throughout Colombia. The FARC is still active, but significantly weakened. The FARC is fifty-three years old and is considered the oldest and largest guerrilla group in Columbia. The dense history behind the origins of FARC dates back sixty-nine years ago. Drug trafficking and kidnapping were not the heart of this group, but instead it was the message of political revolution.

Under the government of the President James Monroe in 1822, U.S opened up relations with Colombia; with a strategical interest for both nations. The agreements were based in expanding commercial relations and strengthen amity. However, U.S relations with Colombia took a different turn as a result of a new era Colombia’s civil war and drug trafficking . The interest of improve the foreign policy and the security of both countries; In order to maintain the U.S relations with Colombia, an analysis of the conflict in Colombia has to be made to protect the U.S national interest.

Colombia is a Latin American country located in South America that has been ravaged by violence, starvation, and large-scale inequality between higher and lower classes. The chaos in Colombia has been between rebel forces and the government and has lasted for over fifty years. These rebel forces have fought to achieve their Liberalist lead goals of overthrowing the current democratic government of Colombia and replacing it with a communist government. La Violencia was the main contributor to the conflict between the resistance fighters of Colombia and the Colombian government that has brought on violence and terror from the violent actions between the Liberal and Conservative parties in the 1950’s. , which has directly brought on the violence and terror from the guerrilla groups.

The FARC was created in the 1960s after a period of political violence known as la Violencia (1948–58). Omitted from a power-sharing agreement that ended the fighting the communist guerrillas took up arms against the state. FARC was made up of militant communists, peasant self-defense groups, and left-wing intellectuals who wanted to duplicate Fidel Castro’s communist revolution. The U.S. State Department has named this group a foreign terrorist organization. FARC was opposed to the sale of natural resources and claimed to represent the rural poor against Colombia’s wealthy. Though there have been instances that they colluded with the state and clashed in others. FARC though not as notorious as some other militia groups for using drugs to control

Throughout Colombia’s history there has been two very violent groups of people who do not like each other. This caused the War of Thousand Days and The Violence,

Violence seems to be a nationwide phenomenon. Almost all aspects of the Colombian population experience some degree of violence. Almost everybody is a potential victim; violence does not prefer a particular socioeconomic class, profession, race, or

FARC stands for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The group grew out of the Colombian Communist Party in 1964 with the aim of overthrowing the current democratic government of Colombia and replacing it with a Communist government. There are currently around 12,000 FARC members . Manuel Marulanda and