Please find attached several documents that provide information on the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). These documents add to the information provided in Responses to Information Requests COL13696 of 29 March 1993, COL2387 of 15 November 1989 and COL1135 of 9 June 1989. Additional information on the subject can be found at your Regional Documentation Centre in the publications Revolutionary and Dissident Movements (1991), Colombia: Country Profile of the IRBDC (1989), and Colombia: Information on Human Rights Conditions, a package of information compiled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) of the United States (1992).

The most recent news concerning the FARC relates to the 29 May 1994 presidential elections in Colombia. Anticipating attempts to derail the elections, the army and the secret police carried out a joint operation in early May in Medellin, Colombia's second largest city (BBC Summary 10 May 1994). A leader of the FARC Bolivarian Militia's urban group and 11 other rebels were arrested (ibid.). Later in the month, the FARC claimed responsibility for a remotely detonated bomb that killed six policemen after a soccer match in the same city (Reuters 24 May 1994).

FARC militants who refused to take part in an ongoing peace process involving armed groups in Medellin carried out terrorist acts in the city on the morning of 28 May (BBC 28 May 1994). Owners of public transport vehicles were threatened and eight urban buses were set on fire, paralysing part of the city's transport services until 10 a.m. (ibid.).

On the day of the elections two confrontations between FARC guerrillas and the Colombian army were reported, one in the southern province of Huila and the other in Caldas, in the southeast (AFP 30 May 1994). The FARC and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army, ELN) had vowed to sabotage the elections; of the country's 47,247 polling stations, 40 reported some form of rebel intimidation (ibid.).

The attached documents include reports of a FARC presence in Panamanian forests of the Darien bordering Colombia (Xinhua 2 Apr. 1994), the formation in November 1993 of an all-black guerrilla unit named Benkos Bioho in Choco (The Houston Chronicle 10 Apr. 1994), and the FARC's "war on U.S. imperialism" that includes the kidnapping of United States citizens living in Colombia (Reuters 30 Mar. 1994).

Other attached reports describe a recent violent campaign by the FARC and the ELN against members of the Esperanza Paz y Libertad (Hope, Peace and Freedom, EPL) party, regarded by the rebels as traitors for having abandoned their armed struggle (AP 23 Jan. 1994; ibid. 14 Feb. 1994; Latin American Weekly Report 3 Feb. 1994). The same reports indicate that the EPL threatens the control that the Unión Patriótica (Patriotic Union, UP) and the Partido Comunista de Colombia (Communist Party of Colombia, PCC) have over many municipal posts. The sources add that although the UP and the PCC deny links with the FARC and the ELN, they are considered to be the "political arm" or at least closely linked to these guerrilla groups (ibid.).

For further details on the above, including references to the areas of activity and alleged control by the FARC, and joint actions by the FARC and the ELN, please consult the attached documents.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 30 May 1994. "Colombian Presidential Race Heads to a June Runoff." (NEXIS)

The Associated Press (AP). 14 February 1994. AM Cycle. "Local Communist Leaders Arrested in Massacre Probe." (NEXIS)

. 23 January 1994. Javier Baena. "At Least 35 Slain in Massacre in Northwest Colombia." (NEXIS)

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 28 May 1994. "Medellin Militiamen Sign 'Peace Treaty' with Government." (NEXIS)

. 10 May 1994. "Army and Police Foil Guerrilla Plot Against Presidential Elections: AFP Report." (NEXIS)

The Houston Chronicle. 10 April 1994. 3 Star Edition. James Brooke. "A Struggle for Greater Political Power; Colombia's Black Population Organizing, Seeking Change." (NEXIS)

Latin American Weekly Report [London]. 3 February 1994. "Uraba Killings Raise Election Fears; Guerrillas Step Up Their Challenge to the State." (NEXIS)

Reuters. 24 May 1994. BC Cycle. "Marxist Rebels Claim They Planted Colombia Bomb." (NEXIS)

. 30 March 1994. "Colombian Rebels Release Two French Hostages." (NEXIS)

The Xinhua General Overseas News Service. 2 April 1994. "Colombian Guerrillas Deforest Panamanian Soil." (NEXIS)

Attachments

Agence France Presse (AFP). 16 February 1994. "12 Arrested in Probe of Massacre in Northern Colombia." (NEXIS)

The Associated Press (AP). 14 February 1994. AM Cycle. "Local Communist Leaders Arrested in Massacre Probe." (NEXIS)

. 23 January 1994. Javier Baena. "At Least 35 Slain in Massacre in Northwest Colombia." (NEXIS)

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 1 March 1994. "FARC Guerrillas Tell TV Station They Will Not Sabotage Elections." (NEXIS)

Jenny Pearce. 1990. Colombia: Inside the Labyrinth. London: Latin America Bureau, pp. 167-68, 173-80.

The Houston Chronicle. 10 April 1994. 3 Star Edition. James Brooke. "A Struggle for Greater Political Power; Colombia's Black Population Organizing, Seeking Change." (NEXIS)

Human Rights Watch. 1992. Political Murder and Reform in Colombia: The Violence Continues. New York: Human Rights Watch, pp. 60-68.

Human Rights Watch/Americas. 1993. State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia. New York: Human Rights Watch/Americas, pp. 118-20.

Latin American Weekly Report [London]. 17 February 1994. "FARC's Influence." (NEXIS)

. 3 February 1994. "Uraba Killings Raise Election Fears; Guerrillas Step Up Their Challenge to the State." (NEXIS)

Reuters. 30 March 1994. BC Cycle. "Colombian Rebels Release Two French Hostages." (NEXIS)

Sacramento Bee. 2 April 1994. Metro Final Edition. "Colombian Rebels Kidnap American." (NEXIS)

Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1989: Parties and Revolutionary Movements. 1989. Edited by Richard F. Staar. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, pp. 61-65.

The Xinhua General Overseas News Service. 2 April 1994. "Colombian Guerrillas Deforest Panamanian Soil." (NEXIS)