Military Structure of The FARC-EP - Female Fighters

Female Fighters

Latin America at large has been considered by many analysts as a place where women are still subject to a significant degree of discrimination. Obtaining a degree in education is one the dreams that many women inside Western civilization aspire to. Low income Latin American women, while culturally belonging to the same Western civilization, often do not have the opportunity to continue their studies up to higher education due to poverty and unemployment.

Some poor Latin American women are involved in illegal activities such as prostitution and gang criminality from their childhood, in order to support themselves and their families. As a result, it is argued that many such women in the region curse the social injustices that have led them to live under such conditions. Child prostitution continues to be a serious social problem in the region today, and many of the human rights organizations have criticized the fact that this problem has not been properly addressed by most Latin American governments.

In this context, several women have joined guerrilla and rebel groups as a way to express their rejection of the situation that they have been forced to live with. A famous Latin American female fighter was the second in command of the FMLN, commander Ana María of El Salvador. She was an intellectual woman and was considered as an icon among revolutionary women in the region. Eventually she was brutally killed by her own comrades on April 6, 1983 in Managua, Nicaragua, after having made many sacrifices during her life as a guerrilla. The FMLN blamed its leader Cayetano Carpio as the person responsible for the crime, and he committed suicide.

The FARC as an organization also reserves a place for women fighters. According to the FARC, they invite all the Colombian women to join in what they consider as their struggle against the injustices of society. In May 1964, there were only two female fighters in the FARC's precursor rebel group, but now it is believed by some analysts that women may make up a third of the FARC's fighters. Internal FARC regulations state that the status of women in FARC is considered to be equal to that of men, and that women can be present in all units, from small squads to entire fronts. Women usually are not grouped together in specific units, as was the case in other countries, and they can also participate in all military operations.

The FARC also reserves a place for motherhood among its female fighters. They can give birth to babies while still being involved in the FARC's armed struggle. However, many women who have left their ranks report that they have been forced to have abortions, or their babies have been abandoned in towns. The role of women in FARC is considered to be summed up by the formula "fighter as well as mother". Male fighters are allowed to fall in love with their female comrades, as long as they continue to perform their duties responsibly. However, lately, there have been reports of combatants abandoning their ranks, who complain of cases of AIDS, as boredom and lack of goals in the jungle has led them to decadence and low spirits. Many women get punished, raped and executed, and the romantic idea of female fighters is long gone.

In a situation considered to be similar to that of the Iron Triangle in Vietnam, communist families can be established throughout the regions of Colombia where the FARC has semi-permanent bases. It is considered by the FARC that these families can give birth to a "new socialist culture" in the country. The growth of the role of women in FARC is thought to also partially reflect the growth of the FARC's civilian supporters throughout the decades. Critics point to a development of a "Nordic capitalist society" in which the families related to FARC reap all the benefits that could be achieved in the middle of a modern armed conflict, and that circumstance perpetuate the state of low intensity war transforming it into a viable economic enterprise.

Male and female FARC civilian supporters, real or imagined, have been the targets of paramilitary fighters (which the FARC considers to be influenced and supported by the CIA as well as traditional Cold War anti-communism), some of which have employed brutal methods (such as the use of chainsaws) during the massacres that they have committed against those they believe to be sympathizers of the rebels. The responsibility for this kind of mass massacres have also been put on FARC shoulders, specially of informants for the Colombian Army or "sapos" as they are called.

As a violation to human rights, FARC has also punished women that refuses to keep fighting. In January 2008, a former guerrilla woman was forced to abort her child and said it was the same rule for all women in her front.

In some fronts, there are groups of pre-teen girls carrying weapons and leaving their education in order to prepare for the military life.