Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia) is Latin America’s oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped insurgency of Marxist origin—although it only nominally fights in support of Marxist goals today. The FARC primarily operates in Colombia, with some activities—extortion, kidnapping, weapons sourcing, and logistics—in neighboring countries.

FARC tactics include bombings, murder, mortar attacks, kidnapping, extortion, and hijacking, as well as guerrilla and conventional military action against Colombian political, military, and economic targets. The FARC has well-documented ties to the full range of drug trafficking activities, including taxation, cultivation, and distribution. The group considers US persons to be legitimate military targets because of US support for the Colombian Government.

The group had a number of significant setbacks in 2008. In a rescue operation on 2 July, the Colombian Government freed 15 FARC–held hostages, including three US defense contractors—Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell—held since 2003, and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. A Colombian military operation on 1 March killed Raul Reyes, who was the FARC’s spokesman and a senior member of the seven-member Secretariat. On 7 March, another FARC Secretariat member, Ivan Rios, was killed by one of his own bodyguards. In addition, long-time FARC leader and co-founder Manuel Marulanda died on 26 March of natural causes. In late May, Alfonso Cano was named as Marulanda’s successor.

The FARC in March 2009 attempted to confront the Colombian Government with an offensive aimed at a wide range of military and civilian targets. Colombian security forces largely thwarted the attacks in another setback for the insurgent group. After raiding a FARC camp in July 2009, the Colombian military discovered several man-portable antitank missiles that were manufactured in Sweden and sold to Venezuela in the late 1980s.