Essay: FARC

From 1964 to 2016, the Colombian government was confronted by the largest insurgent and terrorist group in the country, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC as they sought to fight against the socio-economic injustices the lower classes had experienced for decades (Felter 2017).
FARC was founded following the civil war between Colombia’s Conservative and Liberal political parties that spanned over a decade from 1948 to 1958 (USASOC 2014, 120). This time is referred to as “La Violencia” or The Violence. During La Violencia, the Colombian Communist Party organized militias with rural communities that would later be viewed as a threat once the conservative and liberal parties came to a power sharing agreement (2015). The government used military force in attempt to subdue the peasant militias; however, these actions caused the coalition of the militias to form FARC (Martin 2011, 196). The organization aimed to provide better lives for the poor by providing various services that the government could not provide, such as, education and medical services. Loyal community members would in turn engage in guerilla training camps to become FARC members and carry out missions or attacks. On the other hand, FARC began organizing acts of terror in order to amount the capital needed to funded their services. Their initial acts of terror consisted primarily of kidnapping the wealthy and elite for ransoms (2015). Yet as Colombia became increasingly infiltrated by cocaine production and drug trafficking cartels, FARC turned to these organizations to virtually fund them by exchanging services for money (Martin 2011, 196-197). This fueled a major growth during the 1980’s allowing for FARC to more strongly pursue their political goals.
Initially, FARC was established in order to defend the rural peasant communities from the wealthy elite and the government but throughout their insurgency they carried on the support for communism and belief in Marxism/Leninism of the Colombian Communist Party that trained many of the original peasant militias (Martin 2011, 196). Their primary goal was to ultimately destroy Columbia and overthrow the government. In its place, FARC sought to create and implement their own communist government in which they rule, because they believed it would eliminate any economic inequality that had been caused by capitalism. Moreover, the group expressed their opposition to neoliberalism and the institutions associated with it such as, trade liberalization, privatization, and a free market. Coinciding with their ideology, FARC wanted the government to practice a protectionist economic policy instead of pursuing the neoliberal example of the United States. The organization believed that by employing import substitution industrialization, tariffs, and other protectionist practices, FARC could establish a strong, domestically-oriented economy and protect peasants from world market fluctuations (USASCO 2014, 138). In addition, they strongly opposed the influence and involvement of the U.S. with Colombia; which set the goal for reducing or eliminating the influence of the U.S. in the 1990’s. Besides fighting back on the economic influence of the U.S., FARC was determined to stop the extradition of narco traffickers since they financially aided their organization.
For 52 years, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia pursued the overthrow of the government and development of a communist state in hopes of reaching the socio-economic equality of the peasant population of Colombia they represented.