Colombia's FARC female fighters

[dipsydoodle]

Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is one of the world’s longest-running guerrilla insurgencies and turns 50 on May 27.

This photo essay is part of a series of first-person accounts and articles looking at the FARC’s half-century war against the Colombian state and views on the ongoing peace process between the rebels and government in Cuba.

Women and girls have played an important role in the FARC since the insurgency was founded in 1964. There are about 7,000 rebel fighters, and women and girls are thought to make up about 30 percent of FARC ranks, the government estimates.

Standing guard is a common duty carried out by rank-and-file fighters. Female rebels are often used to gather intelligence, report on the movements of government troops and serve as informants in urban areas. They also prepare and serve meals, dig trenches and latrines, and lug firewood in jungle camps.

http://www.trust.org/slideshow/?id=ed79b68a-bfda-44e6-b139-40125173ae9f

[Louisiana1976]

1. Interesting post. K&R

[Marksman_91]

2. How nice that they include diversity in their ranks

It's too bad the FARC are a narco-terrorist insurgency group. Everybody in Colombia hates them. The real change will come when they lay down their arms and actually get serious about peacefully raising a voice in Colombian politics rather than using violence and terrorism to achieve their goals.

[COLGATE4]

3. ^^^THIS^^^

[Bacchus4.0]

4. murderesses, kidnappers, sex slaves, child abductors, drug traffickers

a few more of their activities you'll find buried farther down in the story. what are we supposed to have a FARC turns 50 party to celebrate?

[Judi Lynn]

5. Very interesting seeing the women also participate in the struggle.

We all realize the FARC tried ordinary measures so long ago, and were slaughtered in great numbers by the right-wing assholes, over and over again.

From Wikipedia:

The Patriotic Union or UP (in Spanish: Unión Patriótica) is a leftist Colombian political party. It was founded by the FARC[1] and the Colombian Communist Party in 1985, as part of the peace negotiations that the guerrillas held with the Conservative Belisario Betancur administration. The party was subject to political violence from drug lords, paramilitaries and security forces agents during the mid-1980s, leading to its eventual decline, virtual disappearance and extermination.

After September 2002, the UP no longer had formal and legal representative status as a political party, nonetheless in July 2013 the Council of State of Colombia gave the UP its political status back, habilitating its members to run for office.[2] Jaime Pardo himself was assassinated by a 14-year old on October 11, 1987, who was later killed as well. Drug lord José Gonzalo Rodríguez, also known as "the Mexican", was apparently involved in the murder as a sponsor. The Communist Party's newspaper published a report in which it allegedly linked members of the Colombian military to José Gonzalo Rodríguez. .

Also during 1987, the ceasefire between the FARC and the Colombian government gradually collapsed due to regional guerrilla and Army skirmishes that created a situation where each violation of the ceasefire rendered it null in each location, until it was rendered practically nonexistent.

In 1988, the UP announced that more than 500 of its members, including Jaime Pardo and 4 congressmen, had been assassinated to date. Unidentified gunmen later attacked more than 100 of the UP's local candidates in the six months preceding the March 1988 elections. An April 1988 report by Amnesty International charged that members of the Colombian military and government would be involved in what was called a "deliberate policy of political murder" of UP militants and others. The Liberal government of Virgilio Barco strongly denied this charge.[8]

During this period, the mid-1980s to the early-1990s, deadly violence was also directed against mainstream politicians, such as the official Liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán on August 18, 1989, M-19 presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro on April 26, 1990, Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara on April 30, 1984, and others. Liberal Ernesto Samper was wounded while he was saying hello to Jose Antequera, Union Patriotica leader who was murdered on March 3, 1989, Ernesto Samper survived the attack, Jose Antequera died. Numerous car bombs and explosives were also regularly activated in several important Colombian cities, including the capital Bogotá, leaving hundreds dead and wounded.

[ /blockquote][9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotic_Union_(Colombia)

[font size=6]ETC., ETC., ETC. [/font]

As we've read, the subject of Colombia's accepting FARC politicians again has been right at the forefront during the peace negotiations in Havana, and was accepted.

[Bacchus4.0]

6. submission to sexual slavery, rape, kidnapping of girls, forced abortions, murders

all progressives I know would not consider those abuses against women and children as a struggle worth participating in.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Progressives don't put credence in fascist propaganda gibberish. n/t

[Marksman_91]

8. I think you could simply ask any Colombian

I'm sure they all have some nice things to say about the FARC

[Bacchus4.0]

10. just a sicko comment saying FARC women are "participants in a struggle"

If they were in such a noble struggle they'd have volunteers flocking to their ranks and wouldn't need to kidnap children, recruit Dutch chicks or presidents from other countries.

[Bacchus4.0]

9. many of those FARC girls are "participants" just like the ones kidnapped by Boko Haram

are participants. If the FARC cause is so worthy they wouldn't need to recruit and kidnap child soldiers. Now they do get some nut case volunteers like the Dutch chick. simply disgusting to say these girls are participants in a struggle.