Group items tagged

Colombian government had initially ignored the growing influence of several communist enclaves in and around Sumapaz (a locality of Bogotá) until 1964 when, under pressure by Conservatives who considered the autonomous communities (which were labeled as “independent republics” by senator Álvaro Gómez Hurtado,[31]) to be a threat, the Colombian National Army was ordered to take full control of the area.

By 1985, the major guerrilla groups (EPL, FARC-EP, M-19, and ELN) had come together under an umbrella organization known as the Guerrilla Coordinating Board (CNG). This group evolved in 1987 into the Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Board (CGSB), which led negotiations between the numerous guerrilla groups and the government. While the CGSB did achieve some of its goals, its success was very limited. The CGSB's initiative led to the successful peace process with the M-19. The FARC-EP and ELN, on the other hand, decided to continue their struggle.

The FARC-EP have demanded a mechanism for prisoner exchange, which would involve the liberation of 21 military and police "prisoners of war"[12] (not including civilians held for extortion or ransom, which may number in the thousands) that the group currently holds, in exchange for the release of at least 500 jailed criminal rebels. During the duration of the DMZ negotiations, a small humanitarian exchange took place.

Partial hostage releases and escapes during 2006 and 2007

Anti-FARC rallies

Death of Raúl Re

Death of Manuel Marulanda Vélez

Hugo Chavez's call to disarm

Operation Jaque

FARC receives most of its funding -which has been estimated to average some $300 million per year- from taxation of the illegal drug trade, ransom kidnappings, bank robberies, and extortion of large landholders, multinational corporations, and agribusines

Drug trafficking Main article: Illegal drug trade in Colombia FARC-EP was not initially involved in direct drug cultivation, trafficking, or trans-shipment prior to or during the 1980s. Instead, it maintained a system of taxation on the production that took place in the territories that they controlled, in exchange for protecting the growers and establishing law and order in these regions by implementing its own rules and regulations[100][101]. During the 1990s, FARC expanded its operations, in some areas, to include trafficking and production, which has provided a significant portion of its funding[102]. Right-wing paramilitary groups also receive a large portion of their income from drug trafficking and production operations[102]. FARC has called for crop substitution programs that would allow coca farmers to find alternative means of income and subsistence. In 1999, FARC worked with a United Nations alternative development project to enable the transition from coca production to sustainable food production. On its own, the group has also implemented agrarian reform programs in Putumayo[103][100][101][104]. In areas where it is involved in coca production, FARC generally makes sure that peasant coca growers receive a much larger share of profits than the paramilitaries would give them[105][99][101], and demands that traffickers pay a decent wage to their workers[99]. According to journalist and author Garry Leech, when growers in a FARC-controlled area are caught selling coca to non-FARC brokers, they are generally forced to leave the region, but when growers are caught selling to FARC in paramilitary-controlled areas, they are generally killed[105]. He concludes that the lower prices paid for raw coca in paramilitary-controlled areas lead to significantly larger profits for the drug processing and trafficking organizations, which means that they generally prefer that paramilitaries control an area rather than FARC[105]. After the April 21, 2001 capture of Brazilian druglord Luiz Fernando da Costa (aka Fernandinho Beira-Mar) in Colombia, Colombian and Brazilian authorities accused him of cooperating with FARC-EP through the exchange of weapons for cocaine. They also claimed that he received armed protection from the guerrilla group.[106][107][108] [edit] Kidnappings Main article: Kidnappings in Colombia The FARC-EP is responsible for ransom kidnappings in Colombia. The group’s kidnapping targets are usually those that it considers wealthy landowners and businessmen, the police and military, as well as foreign tourists and entrepreneurs, and prominent international and domestic officials.[109] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed his disagreement with their resorting to kidnappings[110]. [edit] Human rights concerns

Child soldiers FARC-EP, the ELN, and right-wing paramilitaries all train teens as soldiers and informants. Human Rights Watch estimates that the FARC-EP has the majority of child combatants in Colombia, estimating that approximately one quarter of the guerrillas are under 18 years of age[112][113]. Forcible recruitment of children, by either side, is rare in Colombia; most of the children join of their own volition without any threats of force to themselves or their families. They join for a variety of reasons including poverty, lack of educational opportunities, avoiding work in the coca processing plants (which is dangerous), escaping from domestic violence, offers of money (mostly from paramilitaries, who pay their soldiers), and other reasons[113].