The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasant self-defense groups formed from 1948 during the "Violencia" as a peasant force promoting a political line of agrarianism and anti-imperialism. They are known to employ a variety of military tactics, in addition to more unconventional methods, including terrorism.
The National Liberation Army is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla insurgency group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict, which has existed in Colombia since 1964. The ELN advocates a composite communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism and liberation theology. In 2013, it was estimated that the ELN forces consisted of between 1,380 and 3,000 guerrillas. According to former ELN national directorate member Felipe Torres, one fifth of ELN supporters have taken up arms. The ELN has been classified as a terrorist organization by the governments of Colombia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union.
The Popular Liberation Army is a Colombian anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group created in 1967. Most of its former members demobilized in 1991, forming the Esperanza, Paz y Libertad party, but a dissident faction, formerly led by Megateo, known as "Los Pelusos", continue operating. On June 22, 1994, Francisco Caraballo, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Colombia (M-L) and Commander in Chief of the People's Liberation Army, was arrested along with his wife, son and several other EPL members. Víctor Ramon Navarro Cervano, alias "Megateo," the leader of the last faction of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), was killed in a military and police operation in Norte de Santander department in 2015. On December 15, 2016, Megateo's successor Guillermo León Aguirre, alias “David León,” was captured in Medellín. 40 days after the capture of David León, the body of his successor Jade Navarro Barbaso, alias “Caracho,” was still not found after disappearing.
The Colombian conflict began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups and crime syndicates, and far-left guerrilla groups, fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory. Some of the most important international contributors to the Colombian conflict include multinational corporations, the United States, Cuba, and the drug trafficking industry.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC–EP) is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia, which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict.
This article covers national and international security issues in Colombia.
The Western Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was the smallest of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's (FARC) blocs in size, although not in military capability. It was often held responsible for attacks that occurred in Cali and the surrounding area. The specific divisions of the group are arguable. Some of its divisions or fronts, as they were commonly known as, are shown below. Many of these fronts worked together at times towards a certain mission, while others were further divided into columns and companies with a smaller number of members. For more general information, see FARC-EP Chain of Command.
This is a timeline of events related to the Colombian armed conflict.
The insurgency in Paraguay, also known as the Paraguayan People's Army insurgency and the EPP rebellion, is an ongoing low-level armed conflict in northeastern Paraguay. Between 2005 and the summer of 2014, the EPP campaign resulted in at least 50 deaths, the majority of them local ranchers, private security guards, and police officers, along with several insurgents. During that same period the group perpetrated 28 kidnappings for ransom and a total of 85 "violent acts".
Terrorism in Colombia has occurred repeatedly during the last several decades, largely due to the ongoing armed conflict the country has been involved in since 1964. Perpetrators of terrorist acts in the country range from leftist guerilla forces including FARC, ELN and M-19, to drug cartels such as the Medellín Cartel, to right-wing paramilitary forces including the AUC.
The Machuca massacre was a massacre that took place in the Colombian village of Machuca, near Segovia, Antioquia. Guerillas belonging to the National Liberation Army (ELN) dynamited an oil pipeline which caused a spreading fire to the village. Seventy people lost their lives, many of them children.
On 17 January 2019, a vehicle was driven into the General Santander National Police Academy in Bogotá, Colombia. The truck forced its way into the facility, hit a wall and detonated, killing 22 people and injuring 68 others. Suicide attacks are unusual in Colombia. The car contained about 80 kilograms (180 lb) of pentolite. It was the deadliest attack on the Colombian capital since the 2003 El Nogal Club bombing and the first terrorist attack on the capital since the 2017 Centro Andino bombing. The National Liberation Army (ELN) accepted responsibility for the attack and justified it as a response to the bombings made by the Colombian government during the unilateral ceasefire.
Organised crime in Colombia refers to the activities of various groups of drug cartels, guerilla groups, organised crime syndicates or underworld activities including drug trafficking, contract killing, racketeering and other crimes in Colombia. Colombia has seen the rise and fall of drug empires, crime syndicates and organised guerrilla groups, all of which having contributed to the varying forms of organised crimes having occurred in Colombia.
The Catatumbo campaign has been an ongoing period of strategic violence between militia faction groups in the Catatumbo region of Colombia and Venezuela since January 2018. It is an extension of the War on drugs and developed after the Colombian peace process of 2016. The existence of the war was officially announced in August 2019 after a Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigation. Colombian media reports that the war has directly affected an estimated 145,000 people, with the HRW estimating this at 300,000.
The 2021 Apure clashes started on 21 March 2021 in the south of the Páez Municipality, in the Apure state in Venezuela, specifically in La Victoria, a location bordering with Colombia, between guerrilla groups identified as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) dissidents and the Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro.
Events in the year 2023 in Colombia.
ELN