The FARC: The Longest Insurgency (Rebels)

The FARC: The Longest Insurgency (Rebels)

Garry Leech

Language: English

Pages: 194

ISBN: B01JXUDNJW

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


To many, including the Colombian, U.S., and EU governments, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are terrorists, engaged more in organized crime than ideological struggle.

But does this tell the whole story? Is armed revolution possible without acts of terrorism? The FARC is the definitive introduction to the guerrilla group, examining its origins, aims, structure and operations. Garry Leech investigates the FARC's impact on local, regional, and global politics and maps its future direction.

Having reported from the frontline in Colombia for many years, and having been held captive by the FARC, Leech offers an unparalleled insight into one of the world's most high-profile armed revolutionary organizations.

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals

Terrorism and the Ethics of War

Shadow Lives: The Forgotten Women of the War on Terror

State Violence: Northern Ireland 1969-1997

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cities. According to the  the farc guerrilla group, ‘This was a new way of operating which made the FARC–EP an authentically offensive guerrilla movement. This new method meant that the FARC–EP would no longer wait in ambush for the enemy.’1 At the Seventh Conference, the FARC’s political leader Jacobo Arenas reaffirmed the group’s commitment to a ‘combination of all forms of struggle’ by calling for an expansion of its political activities. At this time, the FARC’s growing military

of violence diminishes under the National Front as partisan conflict is replaced by government repression against communist peasants. 1964 Government forces attack the rural community of Marquetalia in Tolima on 27 May. Forty-eight armed peasants led by Manuel Marulanda survive the attack and form a guerrilla movement called the Southern Bloc. They formulate the Agrarian Reform Programme of the Guerrillas on 20 July. The National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group is formed by

than a restructuring of the death squads. The Colombian NGO Indepaz, for instance, reported in 2006 that 43 new paramilitary groups totalling almost 4,000 fighters had formed in 23 of the country’s 32 departments.50 Meanwhile, the following year, the Organization of American States (OAS) estimated that there were 20 new paramilitary groups with 3,000 fighters operating in Colombia.51 While the Uribe administration dismisses these new armed groups as criminal organizations and not as actors

civilian support for the rebels was lacking. As a result, the guerrilla’s visible presence in northern and central Colombia as well as in the far eastern departments of Guainía, Vaupés and Amazonas has been virtually eradicated, although it is difficult to determine to what extent the FARC is operating clandestinely in these regions. The FARC’s failure to move beyond a military presence in these regions was exemplified in the attitude of an indigenous leader in Guainía when he stated, ‘The

representatives under investigation were Uribe’s allies. 9 The Uribe administration did its best to derail  the farc the investigations, including extraditing fourteen high-ranking paramilitary leaders to the United States on drug-trafficking charges in an effort to prevent them from cooperating with Colombian investigators. The Uribe government also attempted to strip the Supreme Court of its constitutional responsibility for investigating lawmakers. Ultimately, the para-politics

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