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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The FARC had taken control, as they claimed, of some 100 municipalities of Colombia out 1093 at that moment, kidnappings were common and were among the highest in the world, as well as the assassination and crime rate.

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.

* The Colombian armed conflict ( 1964 – present ) is a complex perpetual war between the following three factions: ( 1 ) the Colombian government, which is the formal nation of Colombia represented by the vast majority of its society ( rural and urban, poor and rich ), the Colombian politicians, business interests, and military ; ( 2 ) the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which in Spanish is " Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia ", is abbreviated FARC, and claims to represent rural poor Colombian people, especially by appealing to Marxism – Leninism ; and ( 3 ) the National Liberation Army, which in Spanish is " Ejército de Liberación Nacional ", is abbreviated ELN, and, like FARC, also claims to be representing rural poor people, but unlike FARC, emphasizes Liberation theology more than Marxist — Leninism.

In March 1999 members of a local FARC contingent killed 3 USA-based indigenous rights activists, who were working with the U ' Wa people to build a school for U ' Wa children, and were fighting against encroachment of U ' Wa territory by multinational oil corporations.

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.

In addition, FARC spokesperson Joaquín Gómez stated that the payment demanded was a tax which many people paid " voluntarily ", with kidnapping undertaken because " those who have the resources must pay their share ".

According to the Fundación País Libre anti-kidnapping NGO, an estimated total of 6, 778 people were kidnapped by FARC between 1997 and 2007.

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.

FARC claimed at the time that it was holding nine people for ransom in addition to hostages kept for a prisoner exchange.

FARC-EP Commander Simón Trinidad has stated that FARC does not allow the enlistment of people under 15 years of age, arguing that this is in accordance with Article 38 of the United Nations ' Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Between 1986 and 2001, FARC was responsible for 27 assassinations, 15 threats, and 14 other abuses of indigenous people in Antioquia Department.

In March 1999 members of a local FARC contingent killed 3 indigenous rights activists, who were working with the U ' Wa people to build a school for U ' Wa children, and were fighting against encroachment of U ' Wa territory by multinational oil corporations.

Bout allegedly offered to supply weapons to people he thought were representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( FARC ) rebels.

In April 2008, 24 people were arrested, 40 were injured and at least one was killed in farmers ' protests, instigated by FARC, against the eradication of the coca crop in the local area.

In March 1999 members of a local FARC contingent killed 3 indigenous rights activists, who were working with the U ' Wa people to build a school for U ' Wa children, and were fighting against encroachment of U ' Wa territory by multinational oil corporations.

Carlos Gaviria Díaz, President of Polo Democrático said that while the party disapproves of the crimes of FARC, such as kidnapping and extortion, they also did not support the decision of the protest organizers to avoid criticizing the crimes of the paramilitary groups and the government, citing murders of teachers and trade union leaders and millions of people who have been displaced.

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 ).

In 1964, the FARC – EP were established as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party ( Partido Comunista Colombiano, PCC ), after the Colombian military attacked rural Communist enclaves in the aftermath of The Violence ( La Violencia, ca.

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

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.

In 2010 and 2011 the Colombian army said they were attempting to put pressure on the FARC: s sixth front in the rural zone between Jamundí, Tuluá and Tolima, which the army alleges is being used as a drug trafficking corridor by the guerrilla.

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

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

The resulting blasts from gas cylinder bombs can produce sizable explosions comparable to military grade small artillery pieces, and as such have been very effective during FARC attacks against somewhat hardened targets in rural military bases, as well as Colombian Police positions in small towns and villages.