SUMMARY
The FARC-EMC was the most prominent dissident network of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), formed in parallel with the 2016 peace process by commanders who rejected or later abandoned the agreement. It developed into a national federation of dissident fronts claiming to be the legitimate heirs of the FARC. In 2023, the Government of Colombia initiated formal peace talks with the group under the “Total Peace” policy. By the end of 2024, the group had split into two factions: FARC-EMC - Calarcá, which remained in peace talks with the Colombian government, and FARC-EMC, which returned to armed confrontation following the collapse of a partial ceasefire in March.
The origins of the FARC-EMC trace back to late 2016, when the “First Front”, led by alias Iván Mordisco, refused to demobilize and rejected the peace agreement signed in Havana, Cuba. He was soon joined by Miguel Botache Santillana, alias Gentil Duarte, a senior commander initially sent by the FARC leadership to bring the dissident front back into the peace process, but who also chose to abandon the agreement. Together, they began building a national network by reaching out to other dissident commanders, disenchanted militiamen, and recruits. In 2017, the FARC-EMC issued its first national statement declaring itself the continuation of the FARC. While rhetorically grounded in the FARC’s historical discourse, the FARC-EMC operated as a decentralized federation with each faction shaped by local interests and dynamics. The group’s funding relies heavily on drug trafficking, illegal mining, and extortion.
The FARC-EMC operated in over a dozen departments across southern, eastern, and western Colombia, including regions bordering Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru. Its presence was particularly strong in Guaviare, Caquetá, Meta, and Cauca. The group’s territorial expansion generated multiple conflict dynamics. It has clashed with the ELN in areas such as Cauca, Arauca, and Apure, while maintaining coexistence or tactical pacts with ELN fronts in Norte de Santander and Vichada. In Antioquia, the FARC-EMC and the ELN have formed a local alliance to confront their common rival, the EGC. The FARC-EMC also engaged in violent disputes with the FARC - Segunda Marquetalia, another FARC dissident group, particularly in southern Colombia, though the groups implemented non-confrontation arrangements in other territories.
Peace negotiations with the FARC-EMC began in 2023 under President Gustavo Petro, who granted the group political recognition. Talks initially included the entire network of FARC-EMC fronts, but internal divisions soon surfaced, exposing the group's fragmented structure. A bilateral ceasefire was signed, but collapsed in March 2024 after an FARC-EMC attack in Cauca killed an indigenous leader. In response, the government lifted the ceasefire in three departments and publicly questioned the group's political legitimacy, accusing it of acting as a criminal structure. This triggered a split within the organization: while FARC-EMC withdrew from the process, a new faction, FARC-EMC - Calarcá, emerged, which chose to remain at the negotiating table. By the end of 2024, FARC-EMC - Calarcá continued dialogue, while FARC-EMC escalated armed actions and reasserted territorial control.
FARC-EMC has been involved in the intrastate, non-state, and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
