Terorrism: The Repressive Violence in The Colombian State

There are many countries that have adversaries because it is a part of nature and history, but when countries take themselves to be their own enemies within their own borders, that’s when outside forces must step in. The United States has some opposition in countries of the Middle East; African countries have their own African-neighboring countries killing each other; and Mexico with their war on drugs is an internal conflict. There are many other countries suffering from terrorism. Every nation has an adversary terrorizing them, even when a nation has its adversary on the same land. Mexico is not the only country that suffers from their own people who happened to go against them. During the year of 1964 in Colombia, a group called the “Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia,” translated as the “Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia” (FARC), was established to represent the poor people of rural Colombia from the economic depredations, the political influence of the U.S. in the internal affairs of Colombia, the monopolization of natural resources from multinational corporations, the repressive violence from the Colombian state, and the paramilitary forces against the civilian population. It was also created to overthrow the government and install a Marxist regime. I chose to talk about this topic because I find it important for people to find out that even countries that are not much talked about have terrorist too. This topic is significant because it will show foreign countries that we have to stop Latin America’s oldest, largest and most capable rebellious group.

For over fourty years, Colombia’s government has taken action to counter the activities of the FARC. With President Alvaro Uribe’s new “Democratic Security,” many FARC attacks have decreased to their lowest in the past 10 years ("Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia"). With that new program several key leaders from FARC are being imprisoned and some have been killed. There have been some signs that the overall FARC command and control capability has suffered irrevocably. However, the development of the Colombian counterinsurgency war has not been simple and has had more setbacks than improvements. The relationship with the FARC and the drug-traffickers is stronger than before and as long as the flow of drugs is practicable, there will be an endless supply of money to continue fighting. The FARC is governed by a general secretariat led by longtime leaders “Pedro Antonio Marin Marin, alias Manuel Marulanda, Luis Alberto Morantes Jaimes, and alias Jacobo Arenas” ("Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia"). There are three more key leaders, Victor Julio Suárez Rojas, alias Mono Jojoy, Guillermo Leon Saenz Vargas, alias Alfonso Cano, and Rodrigo Londono Echeverri, alias Timochenko.

Arenas started his political career following two years of service in the Colombian military. He first joined the Liberal Youth Federation and later the Colombian Communist Party. Arenas had urban experiences that developed his Marxist Ideology, which drove him further into politics. Arenas joined Marulanda’s movement in the Marquetalia Republic, after joining the Colombian Communist Party. Upon the failure of the small republic, Arenas and Marulanda created a small, tightly knit group of revolutionaries, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia, also known as, F.A.R.C, that over the years this group will expand to be the largest army of terrorist known today. Arenas became the number two man of the group and promoted the Marxist ideology into this group. “Marulanda was a Great Liberator, in the tradition of the Simon Bolivar” (Freedom Road Socialist Organization). Marulanda was born into a family that lived in poverty. During Colombia’s period “La Violencia”. Manuel Marulanda began his career as a guerrillero, or “warrior,” joining Colombian Liberal forces and fighting against the Conservatives (Freedom Road Socialist Organization). He established the Marquetalia Republic that was later overruled by the Colombian military. His death occurred in 2008 by a heart attack he had in a mountainous hideout from the United States and Colombian authorities.

The FARC has contributed to many attacks against the Colombian Military; as well as guerillas that have engaged in countless incidents of extortion, kidnapping, and robberies. On August 30, 1996, the FARC attacked the “Las Delicias” military base in the Putumayo. Fifty-four of the Colombian military were killed, fifteen were wounded, and sixty were captured. Fifteen hours of fighting resulted in the complete destruction of one of the military's rural bases. Two years later (1998) on that same month, FARC fighters attacked and destroyed another military base in Miraflores in the southern region of Guaviare. In February 7, 2003, FARC blew up a club called “El Nogal:” killing thirty-six people. Eight days later, FARC blew up a house near the airport where President Uribe was going to land: that killed seventeen civilians. The police said it was a FARC plan to kill President Uribe. There have been plenty more attacks that FARC has organized. A well-recognized attack that FARC has attributed to was on May 2nd and August 7th in 2002. On May 2nd FARC seized control of a town called Bojaya, Chocó. There were guerillas that killed approximately 119 civilians. This attack was called the “Bojaya Massacre.” On August 7th, minutes before Alvaro Uribe was inaugurated as President of Colombia, mass murder struck down in Bogotá which caused the deaths of at least fifteen and injuries of at least forty.

As of the mid-1980’s, the FARC had also gained a new means of income. Prior to the 1980’s, the FARC had relied upon collecting "taxes" from marijuana growers, exploiting large and small businesses, and especially kidnapping for ransom. But by the time of the Seventh Conference in 1972, the FARC had begun supposedly taxing cocaine leaf plantations and cocaine laboratories, and had begun experimenting with their own cultivations and processing of the narcotic. However, their involvement in the cocaine trade elicited the contempt of established drug traffickers in the region. Large cocaine traffickers resisted the FARC's demands and refused to pay the tax to operate. Instead, many began to organize themselves into paramilitary militias to fight back against the FARC's control over the region. “According to a US justice department indictment in 2006, the Farc supplies more than 50% of the world's cocaine and more than 60% of the cocaine entering the U.S”. (“The Guerrilla Groups in Colombia”). The cocaine drug trade has by far been the most lucrative form of finance for the FARC. Peasants began colonizing the Colombian Amazon in the 1950’s. Absolutely being ignored by the government, peasant settlers tried to establish agricultural production in an unfriendly jungle environment. However, they soon found cocaine to be the only product that was both profitable and easy to market. The potential profit of cocaine farming, the absolute ease of transport and marketing, and its comparative advantages relative to legal crops fueled a wave of immigration to the region. From then on, the Amazon was faced with unsustainable population growth, leading to environmental degradation.

The United States eagerly supports the Colombian government with financial aid and military assistance against their insurgency and the illegal drug trade. The United States is partly responsible for the solution to eliminate terrorism; but they continue to put in effort, which can result in major reform for the country of Colombia. The FARC has made the Colombian people desolate with poverty because “they are forced to pay taxes demanded by the insurgency” (Vargas). The United States’ government is doing the best they can to emancipate the poor by trying to mitigate the trafficking of narcotics; but the “counternarcotics policies have merely displaced cultivation to other areas of the country” (Vargas). Colombian president Uribe offered help to the United States after the Al-Qaeda attack of 9/11. Relations between the United States and Colombia have evolved from mutual cordiality since the nineteenth and twentieth century. Their partnership links the governments against communism, war on drugs, and especially since the attack of 9/11, on terrorist.

If I were to take authority for the country I would make all effort to start action, but in a different way. Firstly, the Colombian military would fight day and night to end this terrorist group. I would lose plenty of soldiers, but it would be worth it. Secondly, I would give protection to every person living in the area controlled by the FARC. They would live in safer surroundings and be less afraid of what the FARC can do to terrorize them. Thirdly, I would put a bounty on the leaders’ heads to capture them dead or alive. This will help Colombia end other not so powerful terrorist groups and it will help the Colombian military to fight against the FARC. The position I would need to be in to make changes in this country will have to be the President. With that placement of leadership, I must help create laws to defend the nation against terrorist attacks that might take place in the future. I would try to get on the good side of peasants to get re-elected and do all I can to help impoverished families because the FARC made them that way. New programs would be made under my authority to help homeless and people with deceased families, also provoked by the FARC. The termination of the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia will be my first priority while being in office. If I do radical changes like these it could cause problems with FARC. New wars would ignite because of the changes. If FARC finds out I will be helping out peasants in poverty, they would be more aggressive and take over land they do not own; killing many civilians. All of this can initiate a World War Three in one country and spread around towards other countries. The government doesn’t take this approach because they know of the consequences this can lead to and the massacre the country would get into. Many people decide to leave it all like it is and do peace talks and avoid violence.

By the next five years the FARC will have been completely destroyed with only a couple hundred trying to hide or trying to reunite soldiers. The Colombian government is “taking out” every key leader while doing peace talks. “Public opinion strongly favors a peace deal”.(Gonzales) Things would be better for Colombia because FARC is the leading cause of the deaths, murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and violence in Colombia. With the FARC being liquidated, there would be peace and the country would be safer to live in. I believe this because Colombian peasants argue FARC is the principle of the destructiveness of the country.

The Colombian citizens have a right to be heard because it is an inalienable right. The United States is the mediator of nations: the benefactor of those who need assistance to fight off terrorism. I hold strongly in my mind as well as in my heart that Colombia can rise out of chaos and mass fear, and will one day be free from terrorist attacks; living peaceably and away from evil.