Farc That: FARC Policy Brief

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

        FARC has developed a vast structure that revolves around obedience from their fighters and prohibits and form of distraction from this obedience. Although they have built and organization far more complex than power hungry individuals, they do engage in terrorist like activities. They are notorious for criminal activities, mostly kidnapping, extortion, and in drug trafficking. It has been estimated that FARC revenues over $500 million annually from their drug trade.  The marketing of Cocaine Hydrochloride amounts to 45% of FARC's total income. To be clear, FARC is not a Drug Cartel, rather they have an established tax system covering every phase of the drug industry. Extortion is an large source of FARC's income with local government officials and private organizations. FARC also provides some useful services to the farmers they are taking money from. Besides drug trafficking and extrusion, FARC frequently takes action with a large number of kidnappings in Colombia. Nearly half of the world's kidnappings occur in Colombia and FARC is responsible for over half of that number. Their ransom amount for a Colombian native averages 100,000 USD while the ransom for foreigners can be fifteen times higher than that (nearly one in every five victims is a foreigner). 
       
       Besides all of these forms of income tactics, FARC has frequently engaged in terror like attacks focused on the Colombian government and it's military since there conception in 1964. Attacks range from two rebels who attacked a government position killing 19 soldiers on July 20, 2013, to the most recent attack in July 2015 where they attacked and oil pipeline which resulted in the worst environmental disaster in the country's history. FARC continuously engages in attacks on security forces and infrastructure even when ceasefires were agreed upon. Since their beginning, they have engaged in over 2500 attacks. More than 10 of those offenses resulted in 51-100 casualties and 4 times they've resulted in more than 101 casualties. There have been more than 400 attacks that have left at least one person dead often times ranging between 10 and 20 casualties. The most violent of attacks, the Bojaya Massacre in 2002, resulted in the deaths of over 79 innocent civilians (many of which were children). Bojaya, located in northwestern Colombian, has been historically neglected by the state and is a strategic corridor for illegal armed actors. The massacre was the result of an armed confrontation between FARC and the AUC (United Defense Forces of Colombia) Paramilitaries. The AUC was using a church full of civilians as a human shield when FARC launched gas cylinder bombs at the church killing many people. Years later, FARC has apologized for the attacks stating that they had no intention of harming the civilians and that it was the fault of the AUC of using them as human shields. 

     Although FARC has engaged in numerous terror like activities, their intensions are not always to harm civilians rather their targeting was focused on armed military/security, political figures, and resource demolition (which often affected civilians).

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