Guerrilla fighters Andrés and Daniela watch videos made by the Farc at a jungle camp. Cartel factions align with the army, vigilante groups pursue vengeance killings for equally brutal killings by Farc, and landowners fund parties on all sides. 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. 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. Two years later the sides manage a ceasefire, raising hopes that Farc members would be able to reintegrate into society.ġ986: 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. Militants also begin to traffic cocaine to fund operations, and amass a huge amount of wealth and arms through the drug trade.ġ982: The Farc modifies its name to add the words “People’s Army” and begins hesitant peace talks with Colombian president Belisario Betancur. The Farc also starts acting in some government roles, setting up training camps, medical services and even schooling in sympathetic towns.ġ970s: 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. May 1966: Marulanda and guerrilla leaders meet and formally create the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( Farc), calling for land reforms and militant resistance. Another leftwing group, mostly of students and intellectuals who hoped to replicate Cuba’s revolution, forms the National Liberation Army (ELN). Outnumbered and outgunned, the rebels escape and later become the core of an organized fighting force. 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. May 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.
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