An historical review and analysis of colombian guerrilla movements: farc, eln and epl

DESARROLLO Y SOCIEDAD
SEPTIEMBRE DE 2003

52
ISSN 1900-7760
(Edición Electrónica)

An Historical Review and Analysis of Colombian Guerrilla Movements: FARC, ELN and EPL1

Norman Offstein Universidad de los Andes

Abstract
Colombian guerrilla movements have increasingly been associated with illicit activity and terror. This paper is divided into two main sections. The first sectiontraces the roots of the FARC, ELN and EPL guerrilla movements and describes how traditional Marxist-style guerrilla groups became more associated with crime and kidnapping than political ideals. The second turns to the economics literature to explain the observed guerrilla behavior relating it to traditional guerrilla movements, organized crime and extortion.

Resumen
Los movimientos guerrillerosColombianos son cada vez más asociados con actividad ilícita y terrorismo. El presente trabajo se divide en dos secciones principales. La primera sección indaga acerca de las raíces de los movimientos de las FARC, ELN y EPL y describe como movimientos guerrilleros del estilo Marxista fueron más asociados con crimen y secuestro que ideales polí ticas. La segunda parte enfoca en la literatura deeconomía

1

I am grateful for the assistance of John Rust, Ethan Ligon, Rocio Ribero and two anonymous referees for useful comments and suggestions. Address for correspondence: Norman Offstein Facultad de EconomíaUniversidad de los Andes Cra 1E #18A-10 Bogotá,Colombia. email: noffstei@uniandes.edu.co

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An Historical Review and Analysis of Colombian Guerrilla Movements: FARC, ELN and EPLNorman Offstein

para explicar el comportamiento guerrillero observado relacionando con los movimientos guerrilleros tradicionales, crimen organizado y extorción. JEL classification: N4, K42, O1 Key words: Guerrilla movements, illicit activity, organized crime

Introduction
The Colombian government presently faces the challenge of establishing control over the violent guerrilla movementswhich support themselves through revenue from illicit activity. The two main guerrilla groups, the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) and the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), are known to carry out kidnappings, cultivate and process illicit drugs, and extort companies and individuals throughout the country. The guerrilla movements’ participation in illegal revenue raisingactivities and their resistance to political dialogue has brought into question the motivation for the existence of these organizations. The historical review describes in broad terms the events and circumstances which may have led previously traditional guerrilla-style insurgency movements to become recognized for involvement in illicit revenue raising activities. The events and conditions whichresulted in the formation of the guerrilla movements in Colombia are outlined in Section A. Section B. and Section C follow the evolution of the movements chronologically. It is found that the behavior of the movements since the mid-1980s has increasingly raised doubts about the ideological and political nature of these groups. Upon putting into question the stated and presumed objectives of theguerrilla movements and characterizing the groups by their observed behavior, alternative nomenclature for the groups may be proposed. Section II. discusses previous articles relevant to the problem of the guerrilla movements, and considers in particular definitions for organized crime groups or criminal gangs. Definitions offered by various authors suggest that the activities of the guerrilla groupsresemble those of a criminal organization rather than an ideologically driven movement.

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DESARROLLO Y SOCIEDAD
SEPTIEMBRE DE 2003

52

I. Historical review A. Guerrilla formation
Although no guerrilla movement in Colombia has existed as an organized movement for 50 years, the roots of contemporary guerrilla groups can be traced to the period known as la violencia (1948-1957). La...