Initially, the M-19 attracted a degree of attention and sympathy from mainstream Colombians that the FARC and National Liberation Army ( ELN ) had found largely elusive earlier due to extravagant and daring operations, such as stealing a sword that had belonged to Colombia's Independence hero Simon Bolívar.

By 1982, the perceived passivity of the FARC, together with the relative success of the government's efforts against the M-19 and ELN, enabled the administration of the Liberal Party's Julio César Turbay ( 1978 – 1982 ) to lift a state-of-siege decree that had been in effect, on and off, for most of the previous 30 years.

Contacts with the FARC, which had irregularly continued despite the generalized de facto interruptions of the ceasefire and the official 1987 break from negotiations, were temporarily cut off in 1990 under the presidency of César Gaviria ( 1990 – 1994 ).

FARC had historically been doing most of its fighting in rural areas, and was limited to small-scale confrontations with Colombian military forces.

The FARC had kidnapped Mr. Gaviria and Mr. Echeverri a year earlier, when the 2 men were leading a march for peace from Medellín to Caicedo in Antioquia.

In February 2009, Sigifredo López, the only deputy who survived and was later released by FARC, accused the group of killing the 11 captives and denied that any military rescue attempt had taken place.

Officials said the abduction and execution had been carried by the FARC.

Former President Uribe has criticized Santos for seeking peace " at any cost " and rejected the idea of holding talks .< Ref > http :// www. aljazeera. com / news / americas / 2012 / 08 / 20128280155953340. html </ ref > Telesur reported that FARC and the Colombian government had signed a preliminary agreement in Havana the same day.

A 1992 Central Intelligence Agency report " acknowledged that the FARC had become increasingly involved in drugs through their ' taxing ' of the trade in areas under their geographical control and that in some cases the insurgents protected trafficking infrastructure to further fund their insurgency ," but also described the relationship between the FARC and the drug traffickers as one " characterized by both cooperation and friction " and concluded that " we do not believe that the drug industry Colombia would be substantially disrupted in the short term by attacks against guerrillas.

Commander Trinidad said he did not know how many people had been taken by FARC or how much money was collected by the organization in exchange for their freedom.

" According to P. W. Singer, the FARC attack upon the Guatape hydroelectric facility in 1998 had allegedly involved militants as young as 8 years old and a 2001 FARC training video depicted boys as young as 11 working with missiles.

Overview: Designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982, the Government of Cuba maintained a public stance against terrorism and terrorist financing in 2010, but there was no evidence that it had severed ties with elements from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( FARC ) and recent media reports indicate some current and former members of the Basque Fatherland and Liberty ( ETA ) continue to reside in Cuba.

Originally, the focus was on achieving peace and ending violence, within the context of the ongoing peace talks that Pastrana's government was then holding with the FARC guerrillas, following the principle that the country's violence had " deep roots in the economic exclusion and ... inequality and poverty ".

Due to a 1992 attack by leftist guerrilla group FARC, Cali's air traffic controllers had no functional radar to monitor the 757 as the pilots flew the approach using the area's radio navigation aids and the airport's instrument approach system.

The FARC did not accept this demand, and Palmera himself had previously stated that he considered his future extradition and prosecution in the U. S. an opportunity to publicly protest against the Uribe administration.

* Colombian citizen: Was a personal friend of Trinidad before he joined the FARC who affirmed he had kidnapped him.

His wife also intervened saying she had negotiated with the FARC for his freedom and that she had heard Trinidad's voice in the background talking about the kidnapping.

* Luis Guillermo Giraldo: Former Senator of Colombia, participated in the FARC-Government Peace Process where he had multiple encounters with Trinidad as a member of the FARC.

In 2005 President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who had been a critic of Pastrana's peace process with the FARC and had received criticisms from Pastrana regarding his negotiations with Colombian paramilitary groups, surprisingly offered the former president the post of Ambassador to the United States in Washington DC.

The military also suffered several setbacks in its fight against the guerrillas, when several of its rural bases began to be overrun and a record number of soldiers and officers were taken prisoner by the FARC ( which since 1982 was attempting to implement a more " conventional " style of warfare, seeking to eventually defeat the military in the field ).

The government's revised figures were considered " absurdly low " by Fundación País Libre, which has argued that its own archives suggest an estimated 1, 617 people taken hostage between 2000 and 2008 remain in the hands of their captors, including hundreds seized by FARC.

The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca ( CRIC ) issued a statement concerning the release of two hostages taken by FARC in 2011: " Compared to past statements made by the national government, it is important to reiterate that the presence of armed groups in our territories is a fact that has been imposed by force of arms, against which our communities and their leaders have remained in peaceful resistance.

The metropolitan police and the Colombian Army have taken action to stop several high profile bomb attacks against military and administrative centers in recent years, such as the multiple FARC attacks against Cali's Palace of Justice in 2008 and 2010.

Former M19 member Antonio Navarro Wolff said: " If the government wants a serious peace plan they will have to take control of the coca leaf plantations that are currently owned by the FARC because if not another criminal group will take over it.

Lower prices paid for raw coca in paramilitary-controlled areas lead to significantly larger profits for the drug processing and trafficking organizations, which means that they generally prefer that paramilitaries control an area rather than FARC.

Recognizing the increased profits, the FARC moved to become directly involved in the manufacture and distribution of cocaine by setting the price paid for cocaine paste and transporting it to jungle laboratories under FARC control.

Beginning in 1964, the FARC and ELN narcoterrorist groups were taking control of rural areas of the country by the beginning of the decade, while terrorist paramilitaries grew in other places as businesspeople and politicians thought the State would lose the war against guerrillas.

Palmera has also been accused of " hostage taking " because of his alleged complicity in the capture of three U. S. contractors, who crashed while conducting surveillance over rural areas under FARC influence and control.

On May 2, 2002, in the town of Bojayá ( with its urban centre also referred to as Bellavista ), FARC guerrillas seized the town in an attempt to take control of the Atrato River region from AUC paramilitaries, in the process killing approximately 119 civilians in an apparently indiscriminate attack with improvised homemade mortars assembled with gas cylinders parts ( known in Spanish as pipeta or Cilindro bomba ).

The largest concentration of FARC guerillas are located in the border regions with Antioqia and Bolívar, while their paramilitary enemies are estimated to be in control of Cordoba's more central regions.

Both organizations had their share of internal debates, for example as to which entity would have greater influence and control over the Unión Patriótica ( in the end the PCC accepted FARC supremacy in this regard ) during its formation, and later on the issue of continuing to participate in elections as the UP suffered violent suppression ( the FARC began to separate itself from legal UP activities starting in 1987 ).

FARC guerrillas seized the town in an attempt to take control of the Atrato River region from AUC paramilitaries, in the process killing approximately 119 civilians in an apparently indiscriminate attack with an improvised homemade mortar assembled with gas cylinders parts ( known in Spanish as pipeta or Cilindro bomba ).

A 1992 Central Intelligence Agency report " acknowledged that the FARC had become increasingly involved in drugs through their ' taxing ' of the trade in areas under their geographical control and that in some cases the insurgents protected trafficking infrastructure to further fund their insurgency ," but also described the relationship between the FARC and the drug traffickers as one " characterized by both cooperation and friction " and concluded that " we do not believe that the drug industry Colombia would be substantially disrupted in the short term by attacks against guerrillas.

Although the FARC and ELN accepted participation in the peace process, they did not make explicit commitments to end the conflict.

The FARC say they represent the poor people of rural Colombia against the economic depredations of the ruling bourgeoisie ; the political influence of the U. S. in the internal affairs of Colombia ( i. e. Plan Colombia ); neo-imperialism ; the monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations ; and the repressive violence from Colombian state and paramilitary forces against the civilian population.

The strength of the FARC – EP forces is indeterminate ; in 2007, the FARC said they were an armed force of 18, 000 men and women ; in 2010, the Colombian military calculated that FARC forces consisted of approximately 18, 000 members, 50 per cent of which were armed guerrilla combatants ; and, in 2011, the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said that the FARC – EP forces comprised fewer than 8, 000 members.

In 2012 FARC announced they would no longer participate in kidnappings for ransom and released the last 10 soldiers and police officers they kept as prisoners but it has kept silent about the status of hundreds of civilians still reported as hostages.

On 28 June 2009, The FARC announced that they would release Professional Soldier Josue Daniel Calvo Sanchez.

By early 2011 Colombian authorities and news media reported that the FARC and the clandestine sister groups have partly shifted strategy from guerrilla warfare to ' a war of militias ', meaning that they are increasingly operating in civilian clothes while hiding amongst sympathizers in the civilian population.

On 26 November 2011, the FARC killed Police Captain Edgar Yesid Duarte Valero, Police Lieutenant Elkin Hernandez Rivas, Army Corporal Libio Jose Martinez Estrada and Police Intendant Alvaro Moreno after government troops approached the guerrilla camp where they were held.

According to the Colombian military, this same unit remained in the area for 43 days and did not find the captives until they accidentally ran into the FARC camp on the way back, which led to a shootout.

On 26 February 2012, the FARC announced that they would release their remaining ten political hostages.

The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said that this incident was " not enough ," and asked the FARC to release the civilian hostages they possess.

When growers in a FARC-controlled area are caught selling coca to non-FARC brokers, they are generally forced to leave the region, but when growers are caught selling to FARC in paramilitary-controlled areas, they are generally killed.

Between 1994 and 2001, Molina and other 16th Front members controlled Barranco Minas, where they collected cocaine from other FARC fronts to sell it to international drug traffickers for payment in currency, weapons and equipment.

These FARC militias in the Cali metropolitan area are thought to number more than 1000, and have caused serious concern among the authorities as they have stepped up activity in 2011.

The article quoted Grasso as saying, " I invite members of the FARC to visit the New York Stock Exchange so that they can get to know the market personally.

( President Pastrana ) says the FARC is part of the history of Colombia and a historical phenomenon, he says, and they must be treated as Colombians ... come and ask for bread and you ( America ) give them stones.

" Together with the FARC, they have repeatedly sabotaged and exploded sections of the pipeline.

U. S. prosecutors then indicated that they could recommend a lower sentence for Palmera's subsequent conspiracy conviction if FARC released the three Americans unharmed within the next two months.