The formation of the revolutionary forces has its foundations in the 1960 under the Marxist philosophy
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) denotes a Marxist guerrilla sect formed in 1964 in Columbia. Country of operation was in Colombia in the South America region. However, its origins could be traced back to 1948 following chaos that broke in the country after assassination of Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Most of those killed were peasants in rural areas leading to formation of an alternating liberal and conservative governments in 1957-1958 under the National Front (Pike, 2008) . It began as the Communist Party’s military wing. Among it ranks it possessed 10,000 armed soldiers. The current leadership is under a general secretariat led by longtime leader Manuel Marulanda who had formed and declared an independent "Republic of Marquetalia" which was the precursor to FARC. FARC still carries out operations in the contemporary times. FARC is considered Colombia’s biggest rebel group.
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FARC has various objectives and goals. Amongst its key claim is the fight for the rural poor. One of its goals has been in redistributing wealth between the wealthy and poor people in Colombia. This is the reason it enjoys extensive support mostly from Colombia’s rural ( Jaramillo, 2016 ). Besides, FARC has a history of fight against the influence or imperialism of the United States of America in the country. Being Marxist, they stand against privatization of Columbia assets to giant multinational corporations and foreign investments in Columbia (Safford & Palacios, 2001). In general it fights against privatization of utilities a policy that most Liberal governments have been known to adopt. At one point the organization has been to realize the overthrowing of the national government and create a communist-agrarian state.
FARC carries out its operations through various strategies in order to achieve its goals. Among the strategies utilized have included launching guerrilla warfare tactics through organizing armed ambushes. Other tactics have seen specific targeted attacks on strategic government installations such as military barracks. Economic and political targets have also been their targets. Hijacking and kidnapping of foreigners for huge ransoms that are channeled towards arms acquisition has also been noted to happen. In extreme cases, executions have been done to instill fear (CISAC, 2019) . Among the atrocities that FARC inflicted on their victims included hijacking, assassinations, and bombings, kidnapping and executing their captives. The rebel group knew that if they continued their wanton killing, kidnapping foreigners and bombing, then the Colombian government would facilitate equitable wealth distribution and foreign imperialists like the United States would keep off their hands-off Columbia. FARC bombed, assassinated or hijacked their economic and political targets in Columbia (Zalman, 2019) . FARC were also fond of kidnapping foreign nationals and holding them for ransom, as well as killing their captives. FARC engaged in drug trafficking from which it generated millions of dollars to fund its primary operations.
FARC has had extensive support both internally and externally. The support cuts across military strategies, financial support and even political leadership consultations. Internally it has a large following in rural Columbia. Externally, FARC has garnered immense support from neighboring Communist Cuba especially during the times of Fidel Castro (Pearce, 2004). FARC got support from sympathetic governments and paramilitary sects including Fidel Castro. Cuba has been noted to provide medical support to FARC.
There has been history of multiple ceasefires between FARC and various Columbian governments to various results. FARC among other left-wing groups entered a ceasefire with the Colombian government, an act which saw then take part in 1986’s general elections under Patriotic Union Party. The rightwing paramilitary groups executed most of the Patriotic Union’s members and officials. Political violence brought Patriotic Party to a steady decline and by 2002, the party was virtually gone. Beginning in 2010, President Juan Emmanuel dos Santos and FARC had multiple levels of confrontations. At one-point FARC shifted tact to war of militias from guerrilla warfare. They later renounced kidnappings and ransoms and holding of prisoners later culminating in a peace deal in 2017 that saw them achieve membership in Columbian Congress.
References
CISAC. (2019, July). Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) . Retrieved from CISAC: https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/revolutionary-armed-forces-colombia-farc
Jaramillo, M. J. (2016). The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Development of Narco-Submarines. Journal of Strategic Security , 9 (1), 49-69.
Pearce, J. Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy, and War . New Brunswick , NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2004.
Pike, J. (2008, June 18). Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia - FARC . Retrieved from FAS: https://fas.org/irp/world/para/farc.htm
Safford, Frank, & Palacios, M. Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Zalman, A. (2019, February 16). ThoughtCo. Retrieved from The Colombia FARC Guerrilla Group : https://www.thoughtco.com/farc-a-profile-of-the-colombia-farc-guerrilla-group-3209131
