FARC

Mayor Edilberto Molina (right), alongside Lt. Col. Óscar Usme aboard a well-armed Colombian Navy boat, tour the Caguán River which flows past Cartagena del Chairá.

World News

Facing death threats, a Colombian mayor makes a daring visit to the town he runs

5:39pm September 22, 2023

by John Otis

Mayor Edilberto Molina relocated to a nearby town last year after drug-trafficking guerrillas threatened to kill him. He's not the only Colombian politician forced away by threats from criminal gangs.

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A man looks for his polling post during presidential elections in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 29, 2022.

World News

A leftist will face a businessman as Colombia's presidential race heads to a runoff

12:09am May 30, 2022

by The Associated Press

The results represent a major shift in the Latin American country's presidential politics that conservatives and moderates had long dominated.

Lida María Urrego, here with her 7-year-old daughter Sofia, spent most of her life fighting with the FARC rebels. But since the signing of a 2016 peace treaty, she has been raising a family and guiding tourists near Mesetas.

World News

Tourists In Colombia Can Now Take Jungle Hikes With Ex-FARC Guerrilla Guides

4:44pm July 19, 2021

by John Otis

FARC rebels used to chain their kidnap victims in the jungle until they received ransom. Now tourists pay ex-guerrillas hundreds of dollars to take them hiking and whitewater rafting there.

In an image from a YouTube video released on Aug. 29, 2019, shows Former senior commander Iván Márquez (center) and fugitive rebel colleague, Jesús Santrich (wearing sunglasses), of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia at an undisclosed location

World News

Many Of Colombia's Ex-Rebel Fighters Rearm And Turn To Illegal Drug Trade

1:50pm May 19, 2020

by John Otis

Since the country's 2016 peace deal, former rebels have joined armed groups operating in narcotics trafficking, extortion and illegal gold mining, according to the Colombian military.

Manuel Gonzales, a FARC political leader and former FARC commander, hugs a friend at the funeral of his son, former FARC guerrilla Manuel Antonio Gonzalez, in Medellin, Colombia, in December. Gonzales was shot dead near the Territorial Area of Training an

World News

Colombia's FARC Rebels Laid Down Their Weapons, But A Growing Number Are Being Killed

5:15pm February 09, 2020

by John Otis

FARC guerrillas agreed to disarm in a 2016 peace deal, and Colombia's government promised to protect them. But in the years since, nearly 200 former FARC rebels have been attacked and killed.

Colombia's FARC Rebels, in a YouTube video posted Thursday, have accused the government of betrayal and announced that they will take up arms again, breaking a 2016 peace accord.

Former FARC Leaders Announce 'New Stage Of Fighting,' Upending Colombia's Peace Deal

9:25pm August 29, 2019

by Sasha Ingber

In a video, one of the negotiators of the 2016 peace agreement accused the government of betrayal. The leader of another guerrilla group embraced the announcement, saying, "Better late than never."

A drawing made by a coca farmer shows his memory of government airplanes destroying his fields in 2005 as part of Plan Colombia, a U.S.-funded program to counter drug trafficking and insurgency.

World News

In Colombia's Coca Heartland, Photos And Drawings Show Life Between War And Peace

8:00am April 13, 2019

by Laura Beltrán Villamizar

A Venezuelan photographer travels to a Colombian coca-growing region and uses instant photography and drawings to portray a country in limbo.

Fishermen wait to help people going to Colombia across the Arauca River near San Fernando de Apure in Venezuela in February 2017. More than 1 million Venezuelans are estimated to be living in Colombia.

World News

Fleeing Crisis, Some Venezuelans Are Recruited By Rebel Forces Fighting In Colombia

1:34pm January 18, 2019

by John Otis

Venezuelan migrants come into contact with Colombian guerrillas after crossing the river border. The migrants have turned up among captured and killed rebels, a Colombian military commander tells NPR.

Colombian sculptor Doris Salcedo (center) cleans a spill on the floor during the pre-inauguration of her peace monument titled Fragmentos (Fragments), for which she used metal melted-down from the weapons handed over by FARC guerrilla fighters to make the

In Colombia, Artist Renders Tons Of Rebel Guns Into Floor Tiles

4:53pm November 06, 2018

by John Otis

Under Colombia's peace deal, FARC guerrillas turned over their weapons to the United Nations. Now many of them lie in the ground of a Bogotá museum.

Relatives of the three men react in anguish as Moreno confirms their deaths Friday.

World News

Ecuador Threatens 'Strong Hand' Against Rebels After Confirming Triple Murder

6:56pm April 13, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Militants formerly associated with FARC abducted a trio of press workers three weeks ago in the Colombia border region. Now, Ecuador says the workers are dead — and officials are vowing retaliation.