Columbia with FARC

History and Timeline

SLIDE 1
 The armed conflict in Colombia emerged due to a combination of economic, political
and social factors in the country.
 Following the decade of civil war from 1948 to 1958, known as La Violencia, PCC members
organized groups of individuals who felt neglected by the Colombian government. PCC members
guided these people to settle throughout the countryside and create their own communities.

SCRIPT:
The armed conflict in Colombia emerged due to a combination of economic, political and
social factors in the country.
Various organizations and scholars that have studied the conflict trace it back to a long
history of political violence, a high social and economic inequality, the lack of strong state
capable of providing its citizens, conflict of political ideologies, and an unequal distribution
of land, power, and wealth in the country.
Following the decade of civil war from 1948 to 1958, known as La Violencia, PCC members
organized groups of individuals who felt neglected by the Colombian government. PCC
members guided these people to settle throughout the countryside and create their own
communities. Marulanda led a group to settle in Marquetalia, Tolima with the goal of creating a
society in which the needs and concerns of the rural population would be addressed.
Marulanda’s group later became the FARC.
SLIDE 2
 May 27, 1964 - . In May a group of 50 guerrillas under the leadership of Manuel
Marulanda is attacked by the Colombian army in the tiny community of Marquetalia.
 July 20, 1964 - They formally declared themselves a guerrilla group and adopted the
name the Southern Bloc.
 May 1966: Marulanda and guerrilla leaders meet and formally create the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), calling for land reforms and militant resistance
 1970 : The Farc begins kidnappings for ransom, often targeting politicians and wealthy
landowners, and uses the funds to pay for its militant camps and ersatz social services
SCRIPT:
May 27 1964: A group of communist guerrillas and peasants at odds with the government
resettles in the Colombian countryside after La Violencia, a decade of civil war estimated to have
killed more than 200,000 people. In May a group of 50 guerrillas under the leadership of Manuel
Marulanda is attacked by the Colombian army in the tiny community of Marquetalia.
Outnumbered and outgunned, the rebels escape and later become the core of an organized
fighting force. Another leftwing group, mostly of students and intellectuals who hoped to
replicate Cuba’s revolution, forms the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Note: La Violencia was a ten-year civil war in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the
Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, fought mainly in the
countryside.
July 20 1964: They formally declared themselves a guerrilla group and adopted the name the
Southern Bloc. The Southern Bloc called for land reform and better conditions for those in the
countryside. Additionally, the group vowed to defend the communities of followers in the
countryside from the Colombian government.
May 1966: Marulanda and guerrilla leaders meet and formally create the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (Farc), calling for land reforms and militant resistance. The Southern Bloc
was primarily a defense group. Now, instead of just defending the rural population from
government attacks, the FARC would provide educational and medical services to loyal
communities, train militants for combat, and carry out attacks. The Farc also starts acting in
some government roles, setting up training camps, medical services and even schooling in
sympathetic towns.
1970s: The Farc begins kidnappings for ransom, often targeting politicians and wealthy
landowners, and uses the funds to pay for its militant camps and ersatz social services. Militants
also begin to traffic cocaine to fund operations, and amass a huge amount of wealth and arms
through the drug trade.
SLIDE 3:
 1972: Marulanda established training camps for guerilla. To pay its camps and social
service provision, they initially relied on ransoms from kidnapping politicians and elites.
In addition to kidnapping, they also began trafficking cocaine in the late 1970s to fund its
activities, a practice that facilitated its rapid growth throughout the 1980s.
 1982: The Farc modifies its name to add the words “People’s Army” and begins hesitant
peace talks with Colombian president Belisario Betancur.
 May 1984: The Uribe Accords was the agreement between the rebel group and the
Government of Colombia calling for a bilateral ceasefire which lasted from 1984 - 1987.
SCRIPT:
1972: Marulanda established training camps for guerilla. To pay its camps and social service
provision, they initially relied on ransoms from kidnapping politicians and elites.
In addition to kidnapping, they also began trafficking cocaine in the late 1970s to fund its
activities, a practice that facilitated its rapid growth throughout the 1980s.
The FARC’s newfound wealth from kidnappings and the drug trade, and its provision of social
services, attracted a large number of new members who sought to escape the increasing poverty
levels in Colombia. They became notorious as a drug cartel rather than a rebel group due to their
heavy reliance on the drug trade.
1982: The Farc modifies its name to add the words “People’s Army” and begins hesitant peace
talks with Colombian president Belisario Betancur. Two years later the sides manage a ceasefire,
raising hopes that Farc members would be able to reintegrate into society.
May 1984: The Uribe Accords was the agreement between the rebel group and the Government
of Colombia calling for a bilateral ceasefire which lasted from 1984 - 1987.
This agreement establishes a ceasefire and includes commitments by the Government to promote
agrarian reform and improve education, health, housing and employment. It also forms a
National Peace and Verification Commission with the task of monitoring the implementation of
the agreement.
As part of the agreement, the FARC co-founded the Patriotic Union (UP), a political party, with
the Colombian Communist Party (PCC) in 1985. The UP achieved unprecedented leftist success
in the 1986 elections, securing 350 local council seats, 9 House seats, and 6 Senate seats.
However, this rapid success was quickly undermined by forced disappearances and systematic
assassinations of UP leaders by the Colombian army, right-wing paramilitaries, and drug gangs.
Despite the 1984 Uribe Accords, the FARC’s violent tactics and kidnappings continued because
the group believed that political reforms made by the government were inadequate.
SLIDE 4
 1986: The Patriotic Union (UP), a political party co-founded by elements of the Farc,
wins a series of elections in the local and federal government, but party leaders are soon
targeted by rightwing forces in the army and drug rivals of the militant group
 Late 1980’s: Rightwing paramilitary groups rise in resistance to Farc, creating further
bloodshed and blurring the boundaries between the government, criminal gangs and the
rebels.
 1999: The war between the Farc and Bogotá reaches a new peak, as the guerrillas kidnap
an estimated 3,000 people and “No Más” protests erupt in cities around the country.
SCRIPT:
1986: The Patriotic Union (UP), a political party co-founded by elements of the Farc, wins a
series of elections in the local and federal government, but party leaders are soon targeted by
rightwing forces in the army and drug rivals of the militant group. The new round of violence is
estimated to have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of UP party members and their enemies over
the next few years.
Late 1980s: Rightwing paramilitary groups rise in resistance to Farc, creating further bloodshed
and blurring the boundaries between the government, criminal gangs and the rebels. Cartel
factions align with the army, vigilante groups pursue vengeance killings for equally brutal
killings by Farc, and landowners fund parties on all sides.
1999: The war between the Farc and Bogotá reaches a new peak, as the guerrillas kidnap an
estimated 3,000 people and “No Más” protests erupt in cities around the country. Tentative peace
talks begin again as the government struggles to contain the war. In an effort to persuade the
FARC to enter peace negotiations, Pres. Andrés Pastrana demilitarized a 16,000-square-mile
(42,000-square-km) area of southern Colombia, effectively ceding control of the territory to the
rebels. Although negotiations began in January 1999, the FARC soon withdrew. // Britannica
SLIDE 5:
 February 2002 to July 2008: After peace talks reach an inconclusive end, the Farc
kidnaps presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Then the newly elected president,
Álvaro Uribe, begins a big new campaign against the Farc, with a modernized army and
US aid behind him
 2010: Juan Manuel Santos won the 2010 presidential elections. He restarted the peace
process with the FARC
 February 2012-2014: The Farc announces an end to kidnappings, and the group resumes
peace talks about disarmament, land reform and drug trafficking with Juan Manuel
Santos’s new administration.
SCRIPT:
February 2002 to July 2008: After peace talks reach an inconclusive end, the Farc kidnaps
presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Then the newly elected president, Álvaro Uribe, begins
a big new campaign against the Farc, with a modernized army and US aid behind him.
According to the Colombian government, the Farc’s membership falls from 16,000 fighters in
2001 to about 8,000 people over the next few years. Over the course of the campaign, Marulanda
dies of an apparent heart attack and Betancourt is freed with several other hostages.
2010: Juan Manuel Santos won the 2010 presidential elections. He restarted the peace process
with the FARC, announcing in August 2012 that the government had begun “exploratory talks”
with the group.
The talks grew more serious but were disrupted many times due to the FARC’s violation of
cease-fire agreements.
February 2012-2014: The Farc announces an end to kidnappings, and the group resumes peace
talks about disarmament, land reform and drug trafficking with Juan Manuel Santos’s new
administration. It also entered into direct peace negotiations with the government, which
<u>began in Oslo and continued in Havana.</u>
The FARC’s decision to continue kidnapping led the Colombian government to suspend the
cease-fire in November of 2014.
SLIDE 6:
 2014-2016: In July 2015, the FARC once again declared a unilateral ceasefire, and in
response, the Colombian government agreed to cease air strikes on the FARC’s
encampments.
 2016: Permanent Cease fire agreement\
  September 26, 2016: Signing of historic final peace agreement
 August 15, 2017: Turn over of weapons
SCRIPT:
2014-2016: In July 2015, the FARC once again declared a unilateral ceasefire, and in response,
the Colombian government agreed to cease air strikes on the FARC’s encampments.
The talks continued until a final agreement was reached in 2016, which ultimately ended 52
years of violence between the FARC and the Colombian government.
2016: On June 23, 2016, Rodrigo Londoño (“Timoleón Jiménez” or “Timochenko”), the
FARC’s leader since November 2011, joined Santos in Havana to sign a permanent cease-fire
agreement, paving the way for the final peace treaty. It stipulated that within 180 days of the
final treaty’s signing FARC fighters would turn in their weapons at concentration zones scattered
throughout the countryside under the monitoring of UN officials.
September 26, 2016: Just one week later, on October 2, that agreement was rejected by
Colombians in a razor-close referendum vote. The general perception of those opposed to the
agreement was that it was too lenient on the FARC. Nevertheless, the government and the FARC
both announced that they would maintain the cease-fire as they prepared to return to the
negotiating table.
In late November a renegotiated accord was ratified by the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
August 15, 2017: The FARC turned over the last of its accessible weapons to UN
representatives (some 900 weapons remained in caches in remote areas), bringing the total of
decommissioned weapons to more than 8,100 guns and about 1.3 million cartridges. With this
action the Colombian government declared an official end to its conflict with the FARC. The
FARC began its transition into a political party that was guaranteed 10 unelected seats in the
Colombian legislature (five in the House of Representatives and five in the Senate).

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/23/colombia-timeline-farc-civil-war-
peace
Source: https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/revolutionary-armed-
forces-colombia-farc#textblock17686
Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/FARC