Colombia: the Farc party will change its name evocative of the war

The Farc party, which emerged from the ex-guerrillas who signed peace in Colombia, announced Thursday that it would change its name to move away from the acronym that identified America's most powerful rebellion for more than 'half a century of armed confrontation.

After the agreement of November 2016 with the government of ex-President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-18), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia transformed into a political party under the name of Common Revolutionary Alternative Force, thus keeping the same acronym, Farc.

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"The dynamics and the practice have shown us that it is complex to keep the name of Farc, not because we regret it, not because it makes us ashamed, but because that was the name under which we participated. to conflict, to war, ”

declared the leader of the left-wing party and the ex-rebellion, Rodrigo Londoño, during a press conference in Medellin (north-west).

Rodrigo Londoño, also known by his war name "Tymoshenko", admitted that

and added that the name Farc "

, referring to the shed blood.

The last commander of the oldest guerrilla in the Americas, which emerged in 1964 from a peasant uprising, came out for a different name from the founding of the party after the peace agreement.

But his proposal did not have the backing of the activists.

The new name will be communicated during the 2nd assembly of the party organized from January 22 to 24, a year later than expected because of the pandemic of the new coronavirus.

The former rebels have been divided since their disarmament.

Although the majority of some 13,000 former Farc combatants and militiamen accepted the peace agreement, dissident factions have kept or resumed arms.

According to military intelligence, these groups number a total of around 2,500 rebels, without a unified command, and have maintained themselves in isolated areas thanks to resources derived from drug trafficking and illegal mining.

Colombia continues to face a conflict which, in nearly sixty years, has claimed more than nine million victims (dead, missing and displaced) and involved several guerrillas, including the National Liberation Army (ELN), which is still active, as well. as far-right paramilitaries and the armed forces.