SUMMARY

FARC - EMC was ex-guerilla members of FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombianas - Ejército del Pueblo; Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Peoples Army), a guerrilla group formed in 1966 to wage a revolutionary conflict against the Government of Colombia (see Colombia:Government. After four years of negotiations the Government and FARC signed a peace agreement in 2016. While a large group of former FARC guerrillas laid down their arms in 2017, FARC fronts opposing the peace agreement claimed that they would continue the armed struggle.

Most of the fronts were clustered in costal and border areas and the majority of the recorded casualties related to one sided violence took place in the province of Cauca. Several events were also recorded in the provinces Meta, Caquetá, Putumayo and in the two provinces Norte de Santander and Arauca bordering with Venezuela.

The one-sided violence was often connected to disputes over territorial control for drug trafficking. The recorded incidents were killings of individuals such as former FARC fighters or others engaged in a political party, social leaders, community leaders or individuals suspected to have ties with other criminal groups. The incidents often took place on the country side where the victims were shot with firearm at their residence or nearby.

FARC - EMC first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2018. On August 23 one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths when an indigenous community member was assassinated by FARC guerrillas from the Carlos Patiño front. Another incident took place the same day in Norte de Santander when FARC guerrillas from the 33rd front killed two people with the motivation that they took order in their own hands as the state was not present to care for the security of the people. The violence against civilians leading up to these events took place in the provinces of Antioquia, Arauca, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Meta and Guaviare.