In the early 1990s, the FARC-EP had between 7, 000 and 10, 000 fighters, organized into 70 fronts spread throughout the country.

Government officials said that FARC-EP had forced the protesters to participate.

A 48-hour respite that had been previously agreed to with the rebel group was not respected as the government argued that it had already been granted during an earlier crisis in January, when most of the more prominent FARC-EP commanders had apparently left the demilitarized zone.

Their report alleged a longstanding connection between the IRA and FARC-EP, mentioned at least 15 IRA members who had been traveling in and out of Colombia since 1998, and estimated that the IRA had received at least $ 2 million in drug proceeds for training FARC-EP members.

The Colombian authorities had received satellite footage, probably supplied by the CIA, of the men with FARC-EP in an isolated jungle area, where they are thought to have spent the last five weeks.

The missing witness, a former police inspector, said he had seen Mr McCauley with FARC-EP members in 1998.

Uribe's own father had been killed by FARC-EP in an attempted kidnapping in 1983.

In November 2004, the FARC-EP had rejected a proposal to hand over 59 of its captives in exchange for 50 guerrillas imprisoned by the government.

On 28 June 2007, the FARC-EP reported the death of 11 out of 12 provincial deputies from the Valle del Cauca Department whom the guerrillas had kidnapped in 2002.

" The Colombian government stated that government forces had not made any rescue attempts and that the FARC-EP executed the hostages.

The FARC-EP had sought a $ 5 million ransom.

In January 2011 Juan Manuel Santos admitted that FARC-EP had killed 460 government soldiers and wounded over 2, 000 in 2010.

In 2001, Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) denounced that the FARC-EP had abducted and executed civilians accused of supporting paramilitary groups in the demilitarized zone and elsewhere, without providing any legal defense mechanisms to the suspects and generally refusing to give any information to relatives of the victims.

According to the Colombian government, FARC-EP had an estimated 6, 000 – 8, 000 members in 2008, down from 16, 000 in 2001, having lost much of their fighting force since President Álvaro Uribe took office in 2002.

Palmera had adopted the aliases of Simón Trinidad and Federico Bogotá, and later also became part of the Bloque Caribe Northern ( Caribbean Bloc of the FARC-EP ).

By 1985, the major guerrilla groups ( EPL, FARC-EP, M-19, and ELN ) had come together under an umbrella organization known as the Guerrilla Coordinating Board ( CNG ).

These marches brought to a halt several major arteries in southern Colombia in which the government claimed there was FARC-EP involvement, although it has not been fully investigated what, if any, specific involvement the group had.

A 48-hour respite that had been previously agreed to with the rebel group was not respected as the government argued that it had already been granted during an earlier crisis in January, when most of the more prominent FARC-EP commanders had apparently left the demilitarized zone.

In 1982, FARC-EP held its Seventh Guerrilla Conference, which called for a major shift in FARC's strategy.

Asked about her opinion of the FARC-EP as group, Rojas called it " a criminal organization ", condemning its kidnappings as " a total violation of human dignity " and saying some captive police and soldiers are constantly chained.

On 2 July 2008, under a Colombian military operation called Operation Jaque, the FARC-EP was tricked by the Colombian Government into releasing 15 captives to Colombian Intelligence agents disguised as journalists and international aid workers in a helicopter rescue.

After this event, the FARC-EP released a statement saying that defeating the group would not bring peace to Colombia and called for a negotiated solution, not surrender, to the social and political conflict.

In 2000, the FARC-EP issued a directive called " Law 002 " which demanded a " tax " from all individuals and corporations with assets worth at least $ 1 million USD, warning that those who failed to pay would be detained by the group.

In 1982, FARC-EP held its Seventh Guerrilla Conference, which called for a major shift in FARC's strategy.

Notable escapes and raids include: Fernando Araújo, who was later named Minister of Foreign Relations and formerly Development Minister, and who escaped his captors on December 31, 2006 ; the escape of Colombian Conservative Party congressman Óscar Tulio Lizcano, on October 26, 2008 ; a July 2, 2008 Colombian military operation called Operation Jaque, where the FARC-EP was tricked by the Colombian Government into releasing 15 hostages to Colombian Intelligence agents disguised as journalists and international aid workers in a helicopter rescue ; the June 13, 2010 raid which released Police Colonel Luis Herlindo Mendieta Ovalle, Police Captain Enrique Murillo Sanchez, Police Lieutenante William Donato Gomez and Army Staff Sargeant Arbey Delgado Argote.

During this period, the Colombian government continued its negotiations with the FARC-EP and other armed groups, some of which were successful.

According to social anthropologist María Clemencia Ramírez, the relationship between the guerrillas and the marches was ambivalent: FARC-EP promoted the 1996 protests as part of their participatory democracy policies yet also exercised authoritarianism, which led to tensions and negotiations with peasant leaders, but the cocalero movement brought proposals on behalf of the coca growers and defended its own interests.

The FARC-EP, in response to government military operations in the south and in the southeast, would now be displacing its military center of gravity towards the Nariño, Putumayo and Cauca departments.

On 17 December 2004, the Colombian government authorized Trinidad's extradition to the United States, but stated that the measure could be revoked if the FARC-EP released all political hostages and military captives in its possession before 30 December.

It has been considered the biggest blow against FARC-EP in its more than four decades of existence.

Human Rights Watch estimates that the FARC-EP has the majority of child combatants in Colombia, and that approximately one quarter of its guerrillas are under 18.

According to Human Rights Watch, the FARC-EP has killed civilians not involved in the conflict through the use of gas cylinder mortars and its use of landmines.

The FARC-EP says it will continue its armed struggle because it perceives the current Colombian government as an enemy because of historical politically motivated violence against its members and supporters including members of the Patriotic Union, a FARC-EP-created political party.

* Human Rights Watch – Humanitarian Law and its Application to the Conduct of the FARC-EP

The FARC-EP and its sympathizers have later repeatedly employed the destruction of the UP as a strong argument in order to justify its armed struggle against the Colombian state and its assuming positions that many on the Colombian and international leftwing consider to be radical.

During this period, the Colombian government continued its negotiations with the FARC-EP and other armed groups, some of which were successful.

The FARC-EP, in response to government military operations in the south and in the southeast, would now be displacing its military center of gravity towards the Nariño, Putumayo and Cauca departments.

This is considered the biggest blow against FARC-EP in its more than four decades of existence.

* The Statute-formulates the ideological foundations of the FARC-EP ; it defines its organic structure, the regime of command, the obligations and rights of the combatants and the basic principles of the revolutionary organization.

The FARC-EP originally said that they would only release the police and military members they held captive ( whom they considered to be prisoners of war ) through exchanges with the government for imprisoned FARC-EP members.

In a statement published on a pro-rebel Web site, the FARC-EP said the unilateral release demonstrated the group's willingness to engage the Colombian government in talks over the release of as many as 800 people who are still being held.

On 31 January 2008, the FARC-EP announced that they would release civilian hostages Luis Eladio Perez Bonilla, Gloria Polanco, and Orlando Beltran Cuellar to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez as a humanitarian gesture.

On 21 December 2008, The FARC-EP announced that they would release civilian hostages Alan Jara, Sigifredo López, three low-ranking police officers and a low-ranking soldier to Senator Piedad Córdoba as a humanitarian gesture.

On 1 February 2009, the FARC-EP proceeded with the release of the four security force members, Juan Fernando Galicio Uribe, José Walter Lozano Guarnizo, Alexis Torres Zapata and William Giovanni Domínguez Castro.

On 16 April 2009, The FARC-EP announced that they would release Army Corporal Pablo Emilio Moncayo Cabrera to Piedad Córdoba as a humanitarian gesture.

FARC-EP remains open to a negotiated solution to the nation's conflict through dialogue with a flexible government that agrees to certain conditions, such as the demilitarization of certain areas, cessation of paramilitary and government violence against rural peasants, social reforms to reduce poverty and inequality, and the release of all jailed ( and extradited ) FARC-EP rebels.