Military Structure of The FARC-EP - Belligerence of The FARC-EP

Belligerence of The FARC-EP

The role of Jacobo Arenas in FARC's military reorganization was significant. After the Seventh Guerrilla Conference in 1982, Arenas started to work toward the goal of turning the FARC from a guerrilla organization to a rebel army (the "People's Army"). According to his instructions, FARC added ranks and badges to many of its uniforms, as well as introducing a new inventory system for firearms and ammunition, in addition to providing new weapons and technology for FARC militants. In theory, a properly organized and trained guerrilla army would thus meet the international requirements for the recognition of a "state of belligerence", contained within the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 and its additional protocols. FARC considers that it lives up to this, and therefore argues that it has been accepted as a legitimate army, in particular during negotiations with different Colombian governments.

Their opponents and the Colombian government claim that the practice of civilian kidnapping for ransom and the tax levied on coca crop buyers makes it an illegitimate army and point to a wide rejection of the guerrilla policies in national surveys. There are assassinations of opponents and forced displacements inflicted on the general population by all the forces involved in the Colombian Armed Conflict that makes the belligerence status claim harder to accept. This is further complicated by the coca eradication efforts of the Colombian government that involve US support and have led to the declaration of the FARC being a terrorist organization by the United States government and the European Union.

Some of the reforms implemented by Arenas were later published and transmitted to the media, as follows:

FARC regulations:

• 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 regulations of the disciplinary regime - deals with essential matters of military order.
• The internal rules of command - deals with the usual daily practices of the different units of the FARC-EP.

FARC structure:

• Squad: the basic unit consisting of 12 combatants.
• Guerilla: consists of two squads.
• Company (Compañía): consists of two guerrillas.
• Column: consists of two or more companies.
• Front: consists of more than one column.
• Central High Command (Estado Mayor Central): designates the highest command of each front.
• Block of Fronts: consists of five or more fronts. It co-ordinates and unifies the activity of the fronts in a specific zone of the country.
• Central High Command: designates the High Command of each Block. They co-ordinate the areas of the respective blocks.
• Secretariat of the Central High Command (Secretariado del Estado Mayor Central): the superior organism of direction and command of the FARC-EP. Its agreements, orders and decisions rule over the entire movements and all its members.