Development
Roughly from 1949 to 1964, during the "La Violencia" period of Colombian history, the FARC's precursor was a small Communist guerrilla band which usually engaged in "hit and run" warfare against their enemies and members of local Colombian security forces, when not implementing necessary activities for its self-defense from rival irregular groups. The group answered only to representatives of the Colombian Communist Party, which provided political cadres, recruits and small donations as support.
Because of the period's political turmoil, the Colombian government initially was unaware of the activities of this group of rebels. Towards the end of the period the group had settled in the Marquetalia area inside the Tolima department together with some of the fighters' family members, continuing to weapons and occasionally establishing a form of defensive perimeter. The construction of a form of primitive "commune" was attempted in practice, trying to organize an autonomous settlement under collective Communist ideals, combining military concerns with daily activities.
After the May 1964 Colombian Army attack, most of the rebels in Marquetalia scattered, soon gathering under a new "Southern Bloc" (Bloque Sur) guerrilla unit, which reinitiated "hit and run" attacks and once again implemented a more offensive posture. In 1966, the FARC was formally created as a slightly enlarged guerrilla entity (estimated at a total of 350 members divided in six guerrilla fronts) that continued to engage in this type of operations, additionally placing a greater political emphasis in openly revolutionary aims.
Still, during the 1970s the FARC kept a low profile by staying inside its traditional heartland areas, while newer guerrilla groups, such as the 19th of April Movement, appeared and achieved a greater degree of national influence as well as a more active urban presence.
The Seventh Guerrilla Conference in 1982 represented a significant change in outlook, as the FARC changed its structure to better suit the needs of an ambitious rebel army (the initials -EP, Ejército del Pueblo, or "People's Army", were added to the group's name), for the purposes of increasing its recruitment and financing, as well for eventually achieving an international "status of belligerence" in its fight against the more numerous forces of the Colombian state's security apparatus.
Read more about this topic: Military Structure Of The FARC-EP
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