Insurgents no more
Colombia FARC rebels reborn as ‘revolutionary’ party.
BOgOTa: Colombia’s FARC former guerilla group re-launched itself as the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, sealing its transformation into a leftist political party following its disarmament after a half-century civil conflict.
The name controversially retains the same acronym and the revolutionary spirit of the communist guerilla group, which fought a bloody 52-year campaign against the state before signing a peace deal last year.
The party will hold a formal launch ceremony on Bolivar Square, near the presidential palace in the heart of the political district in the capital.
Demobilised and renamed, it now faces a struggle for political acceptance in a country scarred by decades of attacks and kidnappings.
Delegates from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have spent the week in a founding congress to choose their political representatives.
The choice of name was the other key item on the agenda.
The group’s leader, Rodrigo Londono, announced it on Twitter on Thursday evening.
Some FARC leaders wanted to keep the “revolutionary” element while others favoured softening the group’s image by dropping it in favour of “New Colombia”.
Londono said 628 delegates at the congress voted for Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, with 264 for “New Colombia”.
In Spanish, the new name, Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, has the same acronym as the former rebel force’s title, so it will still be known as the FARC.
That is a sensitive point in an already delicate peace process, since the acronym FARC for many Colombians is synonymous with the deaths and suffering of the war.
“They are keeping the same acronym because they want to maintain their support base in rural areas, the FARC-controlled conflict zones,” said sociologist Fabian Sanabria.
“People expected something different. It is possible that this name from the start will restrict them to representing only a small sector of the population.” — AFP