Appendix I
Chronology: Colombia and FARC
1948
The assassination of Liberal Party presidential
candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, a populist left-
winger, sparks bloody rioting in Bogotá.
1948–58
Long-simmering tensions between the ruling
Conservatives and the Liberals erupt into a period of
predominantly rural conflict known as La Violencia
(the Violence) in which approximately 200,000
people are killed. Liberal peasants form a number
of self-defence organisations that are influenced by
Communist radicals.
1953
General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla takes power in a mili-
tary coup. He is elected president the following
year.
1957
General Rojas Pinilla is ousted by a civil-resistance
movement, and Conservatives and Liberals agree to
share power in a National Front (Frente Nacional)
government. However, the new agreement bans the
Communist Party and fails to resolve underlying
land conflicts. Although many Liberal guerrillas
lay down their arms, some remain active and grow
increasingly Communist in character.
1959
Worried by the violence in Colombia, Washington
begins aiding Colombian efforts to contain guerrilla
activity.
1964
The left-wing National Liberation Army (Ejército
de Liberación Nacional, or ELN) comes into being,
taking its inspiration from the Cuban Revolution.
THE FARC FILES: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of ‘Raúl Reyes’
Later that year, other Communist guerrillas regroup
after a US–Colombian assault on the enclave of
Marquetalia and form the ‘Southern Bloc’, led by
Pedro Antonio Marín.
1965
The Maoist People’s Liberation Army (Ejército
Popular de Liberación, or EPL) is created.
1966
The ‘Southern Bloc’ renames itself The Revo-
lutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC).
This group will become Colombia’s biggest rebel
threat.
1970
Left-wing guerrilla group M-19 (Movimiento 19
de Abril) forms in protest at the perceived rigging
of the presidential election. Many believe victory
has been denied to former dictator Gustavo Rojas
Pinilla, now of the National People’s Alliance
(Alianza Nacional Popular, or ANAPO).
1973
The ELN is almost wiped out after government
troops encircle many of its operatives in the region
of Anorí, Antioquia (Operation Anorí). During this
decade, FARC grows only slowly.
1975
FARC kidnaps the Dutch consul in Cali and
demands a US$1 million ransom. Several wealthy
farmers are also abducted.
1978
A new Liberal president, Julio César Turbay, passes
a security statute granting the military sweeping
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Appendix I
powers to deal with increasingly active FARC and
ELN guerrillas. Turbay also promises Washington
that he will address Colombia’s marijuana- and
emerging cocaine-trafficking problems.
1979
Colombia signs a controversial extradition treaty
with the US.
1980
M-19 guerrillas hold 16 foreign diplomats and
several other guests hostage in a two-month siege
of the Dominican Republic’s Embassy in Bogotá.
Colombian authorities negotiate a successful
conclusion.
1982
May: FARC’s 7th Conference calls for a major stra-
tegic shift in which the group will deploy guerrilla
warfare throughout rural areas and provoke revo-
lution in the cities, with a view to taking power
through mass insurrection. In the years ahead
progress towards this goal will be financed by
increasing income from drugs production and traf-
ficking, despite initial reservations about ‘taxing’
coca farmers.
August: President Belisario Betancur, a Conservative,
comes to power and initiates ceasefire negotiations
with FARC, the EPL and M-19.
1984
March: The government and FARC sign the
‘La Uribe’ peace accords, under which FARC is
permitted to form a legitimate political party, the
Patriotic Union (Unión Patriótica, or UP). The party
is launched the following year. Other guerrilla
groups sign ceasefires; only the ELN refuses.
April: A new government crackdown on drug traf-
fickers begins after Pablo Escobar and his Medellín
Cartel assassinate the justice minister, Rodrigo Lara
Bonilla.
1985
July: M-19 and the EPL abandon their ceasefires.
November: Eleven judges and 85 other people
are killed after M-19 rebels storm the Supreme
Court building, the Palace of Justice. Court records
destroyed by the rebels are believed to include docu-
ments relating to drug-cartel leader Pablo Escobar.
220
1986
Liberal candidate Virgilio Barco becomes Colombian
president in a landslide victory. Right-wing para-
military groups begin assassinating UP politicians.
FARC extends its 1984 ceasefire.
1987
May: Colombia’s Supreme Court nullifies the
extradition treaty with the US, but the president
reinstates it two years later.
June: FARC resumes its campaign of violence,
and joins the ELN and the EPL in forming a new
Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinator (Coordinadora
Nacional Guerrillera Simón Bolívar, or CGSB).
1989
M-19 disarms and becomes a legitimate political
party.
1990
Liberal politician César Gaviria becomes president,
promising to tackle Colombia’s drug cartels.
1991
A new constitution brings major reforms, which
some analysts hope will persuade guerrilla groups
to join the democratic political process rather than
fight for power. The new constitution also prohibits
the extradition of Colombian citizens.
1993
Medellín Cartel leader Pablo Escobar is shot dead
by police while trying to avoid arrest.
1994
Liberal candidate Ernesto Samper Pizano is elected
president after receiving campaign contributions
from the Cali Cartel, although he subsequently
claims that the contributions had been made without
his knowledge. A wide-ranging investigation
conducted by Attorney General Alfonso Valdivieso
reveals extensive connections between political
elites and the Cali Cartel. Samper’s administration
is subsequently dogged by controversy, and the US
decertifies Colombia as a counter-narcotics partner
eligible for support. During his time in office FARC
also grows rapidly and initiates a series of devas-
tating assaults on police and army bases.
An IISS Strategic Dossier

1997
April: The United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia
(Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or AUC) form
as an umbrella group to coordinate illegal right-
wing paramilitary groups fighting the country’s
left-wing guerillas.
December: Hoping to end recently imposed US
sanctions, Colombia reinstates its policy of extradi-
tion.
1998
July: A month before taking office as president,
Conservative Andrés Pastrana meets FARC leader
Pedro Antonio Marín for peace talks.
August: Despite its attack on the counter-narcotics
base at Miraflores in the southeastern department
of Guaviare, FARC continues to deny allegations of
involvement in the drug trade.
November: President Pastrana grants FARC a
safe haven in southern Colombia measuring
approximately 42,000km2 (roughly the size of the
Netherlands). ‘Farclandia’, as the zone becomes
known, is off-limits to the military (see Map 1.1,
p. 27).
1999
Three years of stuttering peace negotiations with
FARC begin.
2000
January: The ELN demands its own demilitarised
zone (DMZ) in the department of Bolívar in north-
east Colombia. The move is opposed by locals and
by AUC paramilitaries, who launch vicious attacks
throughout the year on the ELN, FARC, left-wing
civilians that they accuse of complicity with the
guerrillas, and the high-profile trade union leader
Wilson Borja.
July: The US Congress approves $1 billion in mili-
tary aid to Pastrana’s $7.5bn ‘Plan Colombia’ to
fight drug trafficking and the guerrillas involved
in it. Another $300m from Washington is intended
to promote economic development, judicial reform
and human-rights improvements.
November: The rebels halt peace talks and demand,
as a condition for restarting them, that the govern-
ment do more to stop paramilitary activity.
THE FARC FILES: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of ‘Raúl Reyes’
Chronology: Colombia and FARC
February: FARC rejoins peace negotiations; Pastrana
extends the status of the demilitarised area for eight
months.
2001
June: FARC frees several hundred police and troops
in exchange for 11 captured rebels, but continues to
hold another 50.
August: FARC is accused of using its safe haven
as a training ground, a base for attacks and a coca-
growing region. Three IRA members arrested in
Colombia are thought to have spent five weeks
training guerrillas in the DMZ. Initially charged
only with travelling on false passports, they are
later also charged with the provision of explosives
training and, after a prosecution appeal, eventually
convicted. However, having not been required to
remain in jail during the appeal process, they are
able to flee to Ireland.
October: A government–FARC agreement commits
the parties to negotiating a ceasefire and FARC to
cease kidnapping travellers for ransom at road-
blocks; Pastrana again extends the life of FARC’s
safe haven. However, patience among Colombians
is rapidly diminishing and the international mood,
following the al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11 in the US,
is also swiftly changing, with European states
reducing their support for the peace process.
2002
February: Pastrana breaks off peace talks and orders
FARC out of the DMZ hours after the group hijacks
an aircraft and kidnaps a senator.
February: Travelling into the former DMZ to
campaign, presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt
is kidnapped by FARC.
May: Álvaro Uribe, an independent liberal, wins
the presidency on an aggressive counter-insurgency
platform. FARC has an estimated 22,000 members
when he assumes office.
August: FARC launches a mortar attack against the
presidential palace in Bogotá during Uribe’s inau-
guration. The blasts kill at least 13 but miss their
target. Uribe declares a 90-day state of emergency.
2003
February: FARC detonates a car bomb in a garage
inside the Bogotá club El Nogal, killing 35 people
and injuring many more.
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Appendix I
June: President Uribe unveils his ‘Democratic
Security’ policy, designed to end the violence in
Colombia by targeting left-wing guerrillas, right-
wing paramilitaries and the drug trade, and
balancing hardline counter-insurgency with oppor-
tunities for demobilisation.
July: After months of exploratory talks, the right-
wing AUC and the Colombian government formally
agree to begin negotiations aimed at the former’s
demobilisation; the first of the group’s 32,000 para-
militaries start to disarm in November.
2004
April: The first operation of Uribe’s counter-
insurgency Plan Patriota begins in the former DMZ.
The plan, helped by $700m from Washington and
seen as linked to Plan Colombia, aims to weaken
FARC by stepping up military action against the
group.
December: Ricardo Palmera Piñeda (‘Simón
Trinidad’), the most senior FARC guerrilla captured
to date, is extradited to the US after being captured
in Ecuador in January.
2005
January: Relations with Venezuela, always tense,
deteriorate markedly over the December 2004
abduction by Colombian authorities of FARC
COMINTER member Rodrigo Granda in Caracas.
January: A report by the International Crisis Group
concludes that around 60% of operational FARC
forces are in some way involved in the coca or
poppy trade.
December: A new round of exploratory peace talks
begins with the left-wing ELN in Cuba.
2006
February: Colombia and the US agree a free-trade
deal, but neither country’s legislature ratifies it.
March: Indicting 50 FARC leaders on charges of
importing cocaine, the US Department of Justice
claims the rebel group supplies 50% of the world’s
cocaine.
May: Uribe wins a second presidential term.
November: Three Colombian congressmen are
arrested over alleged links to right-wing para-
militaries. More than 60 politicians will in time be
implicated in this ‘parapolitics’ scandal, including
the president’s cousin Mario Uribe Escobar.
222
2007
May: Evidence emerges that demobilised AUC
paramilitaries are becoming involved with criminal
organisations carrying out drug trafficking.
June: Bogotá seeks a prisoner swap by unilaterally
releasing dozens of jailed FARC guerrillas. However,
FARC refuses to reciprocate until the government
establishes a new DMZ.
August: With the agreement of the Colombian
government, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
embarks on mediating a hostage-release deal with
FARC. However, President Uribe abruptly halts the
process in November, citing a breach of protocol by
Chávez.
2008
January: Chávez secures the release of two of
FARC’s political hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo
González de Perdomo, amid rows with Bogotá
over the conduct of his mediation. He calls on the
US and Europe to treat Colombian left-wing rebels
not as terrorists but as ‘belligerent forces’ subject to
the Geneva Conventions. FARC releases four other
political hostages at the end of the month.
March: A Colombian cross-border strike (Operation
Phoenix) 1.8 kilometres inside Ecuador results
in the death of senior FARC member Luis Devía
(‘Raúl Reyes’) and the capture of his computers.
The operation sparks a crisis between Colombia
and both Ecuador and Venezuela, leading to an
extended period of tension and frozen diplomatic
relations. Colombia quickly discovers evidence of
official Venezuelan and Ecuadorian contact and
cooperation with FARC in Devía’s computer files
and makes some of this evidence public, intensi-
fying the dispute.
March: Two days after Operation Phoenix, another
senior FARC commander, José Juvenal Velandia
(‘Iván Ríos’), is killed by a member of his own secu-
rity detail. His severed right hand, laptop computer
and ID are delivered to Colombian troops as proof
of his death.
March: FARC’s aged leader and founder, Pedro
Antonio Marín, dies of natural causes, although the
news does not become public until May.
April: Uribe announces he may run for a presiden-
tial third term, triggering a debate over the validity
of the constitutional amendment that would be
necessary for this to happen.
An IISS Strategic Dossier

May: Colombia extradites 14 former paramilitaries
to the US to face trial on drug-trafficking charges.
June: Ecuador and Colombia briefly restore low-
level diplomatic ties under a deal brokered by
former US President Jimmy Carter, but these are
soon broken.
July: The Colombian army frees FARC’s highest-
profile hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, plus three US
contractors and 11 Colombian troops, in a man-in-
the-middle operation (Operation Jaque) that tricks
their captors into handing them over. The guer-
rillas believe they are transferring the hostages to a
friendly European NGO that will transport them to
FARC’s new leader, Guillermo Sáenz Vargas.
2009
March: FARC releases its last known foreign
hostage, Erik Roland Larsson of Sweden.
March: Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos
announces a new ‘Strategic Leap’ that combines
aggressive assault on FARC’s strongholds with
efforts to install civilian state functions in contested
areas. The much-weakened group now has an esti-
mated 7–8,000 members.
May: More than 20 military personnel are arrested
for involvement in the so-called ‘false-positives’
scandal. With commanders under pressure for
results and offering incentives for enemy kills, the
soldiers are alleged to have murdered over 2,000
civilians, dressed their bodies in rebel uniforms and
passed them off as guerrillas.
July: Plans are unveiled to allow US military
personnel access to seven Colombian bases. Fearing
the uses to which the bases might be put, Venezuela
reacts aggressively, suspending bilateral trade and
freezing diplomatic relations with Colombia. The
dispute is inflamed by Colombian accusations of
Venezuelan support for FARC. Nevertheless, the
deal is eventually signed in October.
THE FARC FILES: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of ‘Raúl Reyes’
Chronology: Colombia and FARC
November: Chávez orders 15,000 Venezuelan
troops to the border.
December: After years of competition and violent
conflict, FARC and the 1,000-strong ELN say they
are joining forces against the Colombian govern-
ment.
2010
February: The constitutional court rules there will
be no third consecutive term for Uribe. With the race
to succeed him in the May elections laid wide open,
centre-left candidate Antanas Mockus initially
dominates polls, but former Defence Minister Juan
Manuel Santos goes on to win a convincing victory.
July: In its last days of power the outgoing Uribe
government accuses Venezuela before the OAS of
harbouring FARC fighters. Chávez deploys troops
to the border, claiming Colombian military planes
have entered Venezuelan airspace, which Colombia
denies.
August: Santos takes over as Colombia’s presi-
dent and takes immediate steps to repair relations
with both Venezuela and Ecuador, including by
handing over a copy of the electronic archive seized
from ‘Raúl Reyes’ in 2008. Five days later, FARC is
blamed for a car bombing in Bogotá, which wounds
nine. Following the Constitutional Court’s ruling
that the US–Colombia base agreement is invalid
without congressional approval, Santos allows the
matter to quietly drop.
September: Colombian security forces kill FARC
Secretariat member Víctor Suárez Rojas (‘Mono
Jojoy’), and up to 20 other guerrillas. President
Santos calls it ‘the beginning of the end’ for FARC.
More FARC computers and USB drives are seized
in the raid.
November: Ecuador and Colombia announce that
they are to restore full diplomatic relations after
almost three years of rupture.
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