Columbian FARC & ELN Rebel Forces
By James Donahue
The jungles of Columbia, South America, have been housing two major militant groups with pro-Marxist ideology that have been fighting the Colombian and United States governments for at least the past 50 years.
Even though they have different ideologies, these groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) have joined forces for some of their attacks. They also have engaged in fighting against each other.
Both organizations are on the United States' list of world terrorists.
The politics behind these two forces is extremely complex. While they both lean toward a communist ideology the ELN also advocates a liberation theology. That is, the group’s struggle is linked to the Roman Catholic Church as a “poor man’s” struggle against government imperialism. The ELN even has been led by ordained Catholic priests at various times.
Both groups have financed their operations by illegal means. They include kidnapping, extortion, imposed taxation on the citizens and the production and sale if illegal drugs.
The two organizations also share one other thing in common. They both were offshoots of La Violencia, a 10-year-long civil war that followed the 1948 assassination of Liberal Party presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. It was a war between the Conservatives, who returned to power and the Liberal Party. A key element in the fighting was control over the agricultural lands. By the time it ended, the war was believed to have cost the lives of an estimated 200,000 citizens of Columbia.
Because the open warfare evolved into two terrorist organizations, sometimes at war with each other and always at war with the Colombian leadership, there are some who wonder if the civil war ever really came to a conclusion.
Even world governments are confused about this question; especially when dealing with FARC. The South American governments of Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Nicaragua do not identify FARC as a terrorist organization. In 2008, Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, asked the Colombian government to recognize FARC as a legitimate fighting force. He argued that by doing this, FARC would give up its terrorist activities and abide by the Geneva Convention. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has recognized the existence of an "armed conflict" in his country and is presently engaged in peace talks with leaders of the group in Havana, Cuba.
Over the years members of FARC have received military training and weapons from Russia and Vietnam.
During its most powerful period, with an estimated army of over 30,000 troops, guerrilla
leader Manuel Marulanda Velez declared an independent "Republic of Marquetalia." This led to fierce jungle combat and for a while there were fears that another Cuban-style revolution was occurring. But the Colombian forces, apparently with the help of the United States, overpowered the organization.
The issues have always been a battle between the peasants and working class against powerful government officials and landowners. The people supported the rebel groups who called for improved living and working conditions, education and civil rights for the working class.
It is an age-old struggle that has gone on all over the world for years. The Colombians have fought more forcefully for what they have wanted.
The National Liberation Army (ELN) is a much smaller militant group, which, in spite of its connections with the church, has taken up arms and conducted enough trouble that it is recognized by the United States as a terrorist organization.
Like FARC, ELN was founded in 1964 by Fabio Vasquez Castano, a Colombian rebel who had trained in Communist Cuba. He was killed in early fighting and the leadership shifted to Father Camilo Torres Restrepo, a popular university professor and Marxist who criticized the unequal distribution of wealth among the people of Columbia.
Restrepo also died a violent death and his leadership was followed by other priests until Father Manuel Perez Martinez took command of ELN in the 1970s. Father Martinez was instrumental in establishing the group's present ideology, a strange mixture of Cuban revolutionary theory and liberation theology. Thus we have the existence of a Christian Communist movement in the Colombian jungles. He died of hepatitis B in 1998.
Like FARC, the ELN also is fighting against chronic political corruption and poverty.
Also like FARC, representatives of ELN are currently engaged in possible peace talks in Cuba. It is significant that U.S. President Barack Obama recently visited Cuba and has re-established relations with that country.
By James Donahue
The jungles of Columbia, South America, have been housing two major militant groups with pro-Marxist ideology that have been fighting the Colombian and United States governments for at least the past 50 years.
Even though they have different ideologies, these groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) have joined forces for some of their attacks. They also have engaged in fighting against each other.
Both organizations are on the United States' list of world terrorists.
The politics behind these two forces is extremely complex. While they both lean toward a communist ideology the ELN also advocates a liberation theology. That is, the group’s struggle is linked to the Roman Catholic Church as a “poor man’s” struggle against government imperialism. The ELN even has been led by ordained Catholic priests at various times.
Both groups have financed their operations by illegal means. They include kidnapping, extortion, imposed taxation on the citizens and the production and sale if illegal drugs.
The two organizations also share one other thing in common. They both were offshoots of La Violencia, a 10-year-long civil war that followed the 1948 assassination of Liberal Party presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. It was a war between the Conservatives, who returned to power and the Liberal Party. A key element in the fighting was control over the agricultural lands. By the time it ended, the war was believed to have cost the lives of an estimated 200,000 citizens of Columbia.
Because the open warfare evolved into two terrorist organizations, sometimes at war with each other and always at war with the Colombian leadership, there are some who wonder if the civil war ever really came to a conclusion.
Even world governments are confused about this question; especially when dealing with FARC. The South American governments of Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Nicaragua do not identify FARC as a terrorist organization. In 2008, Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, asked the Colombian government to recognize FARC as a legitimate fighting force. He argued that by doing this, FARC would give up its terrorist activities and abide by the Geneva Convention. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has recognized the existence of an "armed conflict" in his country and is presently engaged in peace talks with leaders of the group in Havana, Cuba.
Over the years members of FARC have received military training and weapons from Russia and Vietnam.
During its most powerful period, with an estimated army of over 30,000 troops, guerrilla
leader Manuel Marulanda Velez declared an independent "Republic of Marquetalia." This led to fierce jungle combat and for a while there were fears that another Cuban-style revolution was occurring. But the Colombian forces, apparently with the help of the United States, overpowered the organization.
The issues have always been a battle between the peasants and working class against powerful government officials and landowners. The people supported the rebel groups who called for improved living and working conditions, education and civil rights for the working class.
It is an age-old struggle that has gone on all over the world for years. The Colombians have fought more forcefully for what they have wanted.
The National Liberation Army (ELN) is a much smaller militant group, which, in spite of its connections with the church, has taken up arms and conducted enough trouble that it is recognized by the United States as a terrorist organization.
Like FARC, ELN was founded in 1964 by Fabio Vasquez Castano, a Colombian rebel who had trained in Communist Cuba. He was killed in early fighting and the leadership shifted to Father Camilo Torres Restrepo, a popular university professor and Marxist who criticized the unequal distribution of wealth among the people of Columbia.
Restrepo also died a violent death and his leadership was followed by other priests until Father Manuel Perez Martinez took command of ELN in the 1970s. Father Martinez was instrumental in establishing the group's present ideology, a strange mixture of Cuban revolutionary theory and liberation theology. Thus we have the existence of a Christian Communist movement in the Colombian jungles. He died of hepatitis B in 1998.
Like FARC, the ELN also is fighting against chronic political corruption and poverty.
Also like FARC, representatives of ELN are currently engaged in possible peace talks in Cuba. It is significant that U.S. President Barack Obama recently visited Cuba and has re-established relations with that country.