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The cease-fire with the government was short lived. In early 1987, after having an estimated 3,500 (not confirmed-Mac) of the UP members killed or disappeared by the government or paramilitary forces, the FARC once again took up arms. According to Rafael Pardo, president of the Bogota based Milenio Foundation and former civilian minister of defense, the UP killings "not only increased rebel suspicions but lowered the prospects for the eventual creation of a democratic leftist political party." (ibid.)
In a communiqué to me, Renate Vanegas also described the sad history of the FARC's attempt at peaceful political representation in Colombia through the Union Patriotica, as well as commenting on the FARC's venture into drugs and kidnapping. Note that her numbers for the UP membership are different from Jan's above and are considered the most reliable figure:
As you know, the FARC came into existence by an indigenous movement started by the Colombian Liberal party fighting the ruling Conservative party government, which at the time was persecuting the Liberal party. The civil war started right after the 1948 assassination of Liberal party leader Jorge Gaitan. Several years later, the FARC made peace with the government and for some time it participated in the political arena of Colombia, but unfortunately all the members of the political arm known as the Union Patriotica were assassinated by Right-wing groups. I heard this in detail during the three trials of FARC guerilla commander Simon Trinidad that I attended, where Trinidad testified on his own behalf. Out of the 1500 UP members only three survived, one being Simon, another Imelda Daza, a woman professor who escaped with her family to Sweden and another member also living in exile in Europe. The prosecution and judge would not let the woman professor testify for the defense.
Nevertheless, the FARC continued their armed struggle; however, in my opinion, two major tactical actions by the FARC changed its character. The FARC resorted to kidnapping and collecting protection payments from ranchers and businesses throughout the country. The other mistake they made was getting involved in drug trafficking to finance their activities, although not to the extent as other groups had, such as the paramilitaries who worked for the traffickers and rich land owners in conjunction with Colombian authorities and other plain criminals. Apparently there is also a great division of opinion among the FARC about kidnappings and drug trafficking.
Despite the betrayal the FARC has experienced in the past at the hands of the Colombian government and the oligarchy with its death squads, they have still been willing to negotiate over the years. Intransigence, however, continues to come from the Colombian Establishment, the FARC complains (although the government in turn argues that it is the FARC who is intransigent). Note this May 2000 communiqué from their mountain headquarters by the FARC Central General Staff:
[the war] is an option that has been imposed upon the Colombian people by the ruling class which follows the orientation of the government of the United States of America. We do not wage war for its own sake. Everything has been put in the service of a political solution that would open the course toward reconciliation and reconstruction and establish the basis of the New Colombia. But invariably we have come up against the stubbornness and intransigence of a ruling class that only thinks of making use of these spaces to get us to submit. (source)
FARC's Waning Fortunes
With the swearing in of George Bush as President of the United States in 2001 and the 9/11 debacle that same year, the Right-wing in Colombia experienced a new surge of support for more extremist measures in dealing with the FARC. Capitalizing on the paranoia and vindictiveness being promulgated with George Bush's ultra-violent "War on Terror" the oligarchy successfully promoted the election of hardliner Álvaro Uribe to the presidency. Uribe was keen to begin, with the full backing of the White House of course, the demonization of the FARC as evil "terrorists," now suddenly more subhuman than ever, and worthy only of annihilation at his hands. To the CIA and the Pentagon, always eager to support oligarchy anywhere it seems, the FARC must have now seemed like the ultimate evil fantasy characters, "Comunistas Terroristas". Never mind that the FARC itself was created as a reaction against brutal state terrorism against the Columbian masses; any hot-button propaganda sound bite will do for the Right-wing to rationalize slaughtering one's enemies. The problem is that this just compounds the original injustices, setting the stage for more conflict in the future even if one is successful in the short run in annihilating the opposition. There can never be real peace without justice.
The FARC, realizing the wave of intensified violence, aided by American technology, intelligence and weaponry, being launched against them by Uribe, made what appeared to be a strategic withdrawal from several departments after suffering military setbacks and the capture or desertion of a number of fighters. Their numbers have been reduced possibly by as much as half, leaving them with, perhaps, some eight or nine thousand guerrillas at present. It is very hard to get a real grip on correct figures. The FARC has also suffered media embarrassments and psychological defeats from the escape or liberation of hostages, as well as assassinations of some of its leadership. Is this bad Karma from the kidnappings catching up with them?
FARC commander Raul Reyes speaking
to his guerrilla fighters.
Photo: Garry Leech (source)
However, Uribe has had his own setbacks. His successful, yet controversially ordered raid into neighboring Ecuador to murder key FARC leader/negotiator Raúl Reyes in his sleep and almost everyone else in the camp, including four Mexicans, sparked a regional crisis that could have easily escalated into war with Ecuador and or Venezuela. At the same time Uribe and his administration have been damaged by the "Parapolitics Scandal," centering around revelations of strong links between government officials and politicians on the one hand and Right-wing militias like the AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) on the other.
AUC members
- Paramilitaries are responsible for more than 70 percent of the human rights abuses in Colombia.
Photo: Garry Leech (source)
Meanwhile the FARC, displaying a measure of self-confidence, has just recently called for a prisoner exchange, as reported by the news agency, China View: BOGOTA, March 29 (Xinhua) --
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said it is ready to make a swap of hostages for rebel prisoners, the organization Colombians for Peace said Sunday.
