Colombia’s FARC guerrillas announce a new political party with an old name

BOGOTA, Colombia – For more than 50 years, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, tried to seize power by force, turning this South American nation into a land of bloodshed, drugs and kidnapping.

On Friday, however, the FARC held a political rally in Bogota’s Plaza Bolivar – just steps from the presidential palace that they now hope to win at the ballot box.

Ten months after signing a hard-fought and controversial peace deal, the FARC announced its new political party this past week as it prepares to compete in general elections next year.

The name of Colombia’s newest political party is Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, which roughly translates to the Popular Alternative Revolutionary Force. Crucially, the name allows the organization to keep its FARC acronym – four letters that, for many, evoke some of the country’s darkest moments.

Ivan Marquez, a one-time commander turned politician, recognized that using a name that has been around since the 1960s was politically fraught.

“For some people, FARC is a negative word,” he said. “But at the same time it represents our historical continuity, our past. We are going to continue our fight but only in the arena of legal politics.”

The government and the FARC signed a revised peace deal in November that required the 7,000-strong army to demobilize in exchange for reduced sentences and political guarantees. As part of the agreement, the FARC is assured at least five congressional and Senate seats for the next two political cycles.

But it’s clear that the group has larger ambitions.

“We want to be the government or part of it,” Marquez said.

In the past, the group has said it would be premature to talk about running a candidate of its own and has suggested it will seek alliances for the 2018 presidential race. But Marquez said it will be up to the party’s newly created directorate, which has 111 members, to decide the next political steps, including who might run for office.

The thought of the country’s longtime enemies having Senate seats is anathema to many. And it was one of the reasons that an initial peace deal with the group was rejected in a national referendum last year.

Pablo Catatumbo, another FARC leader, said the new party would win over voters with its platform of peace, social justice, rural development, care for the environment and fighting corruption.

“This is a new party for a new Colombia,” he said.

As part of its rebranding, the FARC dropped its wartime logo of crossed AK-47s for a softer look: a star surrounded by the petals of a red rose.

“When people see a red rose, we want them to think of the FARC,” Marquez said. “We want it to become a symbol of unity among all Colombians.”

For many that’s a tall order. The group was one of the principal actors in a multiparty conflict in which more than 220,000 people died and millions were forced to flee their homes.

“Colombians should never forget that the FARC represents a half century of massacres, kidnapping, extortion and the recruitment of children,” Rafael Guarin, a former vice minister of defense, wrote on Twitter.

Catatumbo said the new party is an answer to those who are disillusioned by the corruption and graft that has hollowed out Colombia’s politics.

“We’re going to prove,” he said, “that we were always fighting for peace and social justice.”