Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)

Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is Latin America’s oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped insurgency of Marxist origin. It only nominally fights in support of Marxist goals today. The FARC primarily operates in Colombia, with some activities including extortion, kidnapping, weapons acquisition, and logistics—occuring in neighboring countries.

-The Farc is the oldest and largest group among Colombia's left-wing rebels and is one of the world's richest guerrilla armies.

The PCC (Colombian Communist Party) justified the operations of the guerrillas as the armed component of the fight against capitalism and imperialism in Colombia, while at the same time it continued to participate in legal electoral activities independently. Both activities were considered to have their own place within the so-called "combination of all forms of struggle", a concept often employed by PCC and FARC.

Later, in 1964, a section of these guerrillas would develop into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), which initially was considered as the official armed wing of the Communist party. The PCC leadership mostly operated in the cities during the 1960s and 1970s, but it supported the operations of the FARC, regularly holding solidarity and donation rallies for FARC members and units, as well as occasionally providing other forms of aid (supplies, equipment, intelligence, political cadres or ideological literature).

The FARC historically generated much of their revenue from the international drug trade and ransoms from kidnappings. Estimates of the income the FARC derives from the sale of narcotics vary widely.

Ivan Marquez, chief negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), said the organisation wanted to reach a peace accord with social justice
Meanwhile, Farc accuses the Colombian military of using forced recruitment and says children are used by the military to infiltrate Farc positions.
In a statement, Farc said: "We want to take steps that will ensure that fewer generations and fewer young people will be involved in military confrontations which put their lives at risk."

Latin America's longest-running guerrilla war may finally be over. The Colombian government and Marxist guerrillas known as the FARC have been fighting since the 1960s, but now they have announced the outlines of a peace deal that they hope to sign in the next six months. The agreement was sealed with a handshake in Havana, Cuba, And it got a push from that now-familiar peace activist, Pope Francis.

Citations:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARC
• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-11400950
• http://www.cfr.org/colombia/farc-eln-colombias-left-wing-guerrillas/p9272