Colombia: Update to COL35124.E of 20 September 2000 on the activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) in urban centres (September 2000-July 2003)
In June 2001, Jorge Briceño Suarez, a senior leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC), announced that the group was intending to bring its struggle to Colombia's cities (Real Instituto Ebano 4 Mar. 2003). According to Román Ortiz, an expert on Latin American security and defence issues, the decision to urbanize the conflict reflects a realization by FARC leaders that the costs of large-scale assaults against military targets were unacceptably high, and that an urban campaign would bring pressure to bear on the middle and upper classes upon which the government draws much of its support (ibid.).
An important element in the FARC's urban strategy has been the exploitation of new technologies and tactics borrowed from European guerrilla movements such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) (ibid.; Jane's Intelligence Review Sept. 2002, 24-25; ibid. Mar. 2003, 23). These technologies include the use of remote-controlled mortars, as seen in the attacks on the presidential palace and the José María Córdova military school in August 2002, and the establishment of a new system of urban guerrilla cells which may be modelled on the PIRA's "active service units" (ibid. Sept. 2002, 24-25). These cells, each of which is composed of no more than 12 individuals, make use of their own network of safe houses and escape routes in order to minimize the risk of detection (Real Instituto Ebano 4 Mar. 2003). According to police officials, the FARC's Antonio Nariño Urban Network (Red Urbana Antonio Nariño, RUAN) sent approximately 60 guerrillas trained in the use of the new tactics to Bogotá in January 2002 (Jane's Intelligence Review Sept. 2002, 25).
In addition to the urban cells described above, the FARC has engaged in a
strategy of creating urban militias connected to [its] regular armed fighters [and] may have as many as 12,000 urban militias, highly concentrated in Bogotá and Medellín but also in many of the medium sized urban centers such as Bucaramanga and Villavicencio (Adjunct Professor 30 June 2003).
A Stetson University College of Law associate professor who served as a district judge in Medellín between 1983 and 1986 and currently specializes in the legal dimensions of narcotics trafficking and guerrilla insurgency also indicated that the FARC is active in nearly all of Colombia's major cities, where its members are "responsible for gathering intelligence to feed to the rural fronts, for carrying out recruitment, and for conducting acts of kidnapping, extortion, and robbery against the urban population" (7 July 2003). The associate professor went on to claim that
recent events have indicated that the guerrillas ... are concentrated [in urban centres] and capable of delivering attacks against the formal infrastructure. ... Brazen attacks by cells of combatant groups have increased. There has also been a noticeable rise in the level of violence between guerrillas and paras [paramilitary groups] in the poor areas as fronts from either side compete and battle for the control of "turf" in the slums. ... While military actions such as tactical strikes and bombings against police installations and government properties have continued, the tactics of the urban guerrilla ... fronts have expanded to assume more of an intelligence-gathering role than a tactical strike role. Regardless, terrorism for the purposes of intimidation, control, and financial gain is still a primary plank in the guerrilla ... modus operandi (ibid.).
Bogotá, where the FARC's organizational structure and activities are becoming increasingly complex, is believed to harbour cells from the group's 10th, 22nd, 42nd, 45th and 53rd Fronts (El Espectador 11 Aug. 2002). Additionally, members of the FARC's Huila-based Teófilo Forero "mobile column" (columna móvil ) have reportedly travelled to the capital on a number of occasions in order to carry out attacks such as the 7 February 2003 bombing of El Nogal nightclub in which 35 people were killed and more than 160 injured (Semana 22 Feb. 2003; Jane's Intelligence Review Mar. 2003, 22).
Besides the incidents already described, media reports refer to FARC activities in Bogotá and other urban centres:
On 25 January 2002, a bomb exploded outside a popular Bogotá restaurant, killing a child and four police officers and injuring another 28 individuals (EL Colombiano 26 Jan. 2002). Although no group claimed responsibility for the attack, the authorities blamed FARC urban militia members (ibid.).
On 14 April 2002, Alvaro Uribe Vélez was the victim of an assassination attempt while campaigning for president in Barranquilla (ibid. 14 Apr. 2002). The attack, attributed to the FARC, involved the explosion of a bomb as his motorcade was travelling along a city street, followed by sniper fire targeting his vehicle (ibid.). Although Uribe survived the incident unscathed, two unidentified individuals were killed and 22 injured (ibid.).
On 19 April 2002, two bombs, allegedly placed by the FARC, exploded in Cartagena near facilities belonging to the Coastal Electric Energy Company (Empresa de Energía Eléctrica de la Costa, ELECTROCOSTA) (ibid. 20 Apr. 2002). Three individuals died in the attack, while another ten were injured (ibid.).
On 24 June 2002, suspected FARC urban militia members threw a fragmentation grenade at police officers controlling traffic in south Bogotá (ibid. 24 June 2002). Six officers were injured in the attack (ibid.).
On 28 July 2002, a car bomb, allegedly placed by the FARC, was detonated near municipal government offices in Cali (ibid. 29 July 2002). Despite damage to nearby buildings, there were no reports of casualties (ibid.).
On 9 December 2002, a bomb hidden in a car was detonated in a western district of Bogotá (ibid. 10 Dec. 2002). More than 50 people were reportedly injured in the attack, which police officials blamed on the FARC urban militia (ibid.).
On 2 January 2003, the authorities discovered a clandestine hospital in the centre of Barranquilla reportedly used by the FARC to treat guerrillas injured in combat or while handling explosives (El País 3 Jan. 2003). Although police searching the facility found firearms and ammunition, there were no reports of arrests (ibid.).
On 16 January 2003, a bomb exploded in the parking lot of a Medellín shopping centre, killing four individuals and injuring another 27 (AFP 16 Jan. 2003). According to Francisco Galvis, a Medellín-based prosecutor, the attack was carried out by the FARC as a reprisal for the arrest of 53 of its members over the course of previous days (ibid.).
On the night of 8 May 2003, suspected FARC urban militia members detonated a bomb at a water treatment plant in Cali (Terra Networks 9 May 2003). Although the attack did not affect water availability in the city, three individuals were killed, including a security guard (ibid.).
On 8 June 2003, Jenny Rocío Mendivelso Mejía, a former FARC fighter who served as a liaison between the Ministry of Interior and Bogotá-area hostels for demobilized combatants, was shot and killed in Bogotá (El Tiempo 10 June 2003). Two former FARC guerrillas who were participating in the demobilization program were subsequently arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing amid reports that guerrilla leaders had launched a "pistol plan" (plan pistola ) to track down and kill deserters residing in Bogotá (El País 12 June 2003).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate 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). 16 January 2003. "Four Killed, 27 Injured in Colombia Car Bomb." (Reliefweb) <http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/c2466ce39861712149256cb1001bf34a?OpenDocument> [Accessed 21 July 2003]
Adjunct Professor, Center for Latin American Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. 30 June 2003. Correspondence.
Associate Professor, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida. 7 July 2003. Correspondence.
El Colombiano [Medellín]. 10 December 2002. "Atentado con carrobomba sacudió el occidente de Bogotá." <http://www.elcolombiano.com/historicod/200212/20021210/npo002.htm> [Accessed 16 July 2003]
_____. 29 July 2002. Carlos Olimpo Restrepo. "Cali se despertó con una explosión." <http://www.elcolombiano.com/historicod/200207/20020729/ndh002.htm> [Accessed 16 July 2003]
_____. 24 June 2002. "Heridos seis policías en un ataque con una granada." <http://www.elcolombiano.com/historicod/200206/20020624/nun043.htm> [Accessed 15 July 2003]
_____. 20 April 2002. "Tres muertos por bomba en Cartagena." <http://www.elcolombiano.com/historicod/200204/20020420/nnh006.htm> [Accessed 16 July 2003]
_____. 14 April 2002. "Candidato presidencial Uribe ileso tras atentado con autobús bomba en Barranquilla." <http://www.elcolombiano.com/historicod/200204/20020414/nun023.htm> [Accessed 16 July 2003]
_____. 26 January 2002. "Se endurecen las medidas de seguridad en Bogotá tras atentado." <http://www.elcolombiano.com/historicod/200201/20020126/nup001.htm> [Accessed 16 July 2003]
El Espectador [Bogotá, in Spanish]. 11 August 2002. "Colombia: 60 FARC Cells Operate in Bogota." (FBIS-LAT-2002-0811 11 Aug. 2002/Dialog)
Jane's Intelligence Review [Surrey]. March 2003. Vol. 15, No. 3. Jeremy McDermott. "Nightclub Attack Demonstrates FARC's New Urban Capability."
_____. September 2002. Vol. 14, No. 9. Jeremy McDermott. "FARC Gives Notice of an Urban Campaign."
El País [Cali]. 12 June 2003. James Arias. "Farc, 'desesperadas' por las deserciones." <http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/HOY/NAL/A612N1.html> [Accessed 2 July 2003]
_____. 3 January 2003. "DAS desmantela hospital de las Farc en Barranquilla." <http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/paisonline/notas/Enero032003/descubrenhospital.html> [Accessed 21 July 2003]
Real Instituto Ebano. 4 March 2003. Román D. Ortiz. "El impacto estratégico de la escalada terrorista de las FARC en el conflicto colombiano." <http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/analisis/247.asp> [Accessed 2 July 2003]
Semana [Bogotá]. 22 February 2002. No. 1086. "La Teófilo: el puño de hierro de las Farc." <http://www.semana.com/archivo/articulosView.jsp?id=68394> [Accessed 2 July 2003]
Terra Networks. 9 May 2003. "Explosión de bomba deja tres muertos en Cali." <http://www.terra.com/actualidad/articulo/html/act151176.htm> [Accessed 21 July 2003]
El Tiempo [Bogotá]. 10 June 2003. "Asesinan a funcionaria que trabajaba con el Programa de Reinserción." <http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/coar/noticias/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-1124430.html> [Accessed 21 July 2003]