ASSESSMENTS

In Colombia, FARC Suits Up for a New Kind of Battle

Aug 21, 2017 | 21:38 GMT

Within the next several months, FARC will receive seats in the Colombian Chamber of Representatives.

FARC commander Carlos Lozada speaks in front of the images of late FARC leaders Manuel Marulanda Velez, Jorge Briceno Suarez, Jacobo Arenas and Alfonso Cano.

(RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Forecast Highlights

  • The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will disband and form a political party as part of its peace agreement with the government, receiving at least five seats in the Chamber of Representatives and five seats in the Senate. Its allies will also have the opportunity to contest seats in 16 electoral districts.
  • Given its small size and low popularity, the new FARC party will have little immediate influence over Colombian politics.
  • Even so, the former rebels may hold enough seats in the lower house to trade votes for public works in their electoral districts.

Colombia's largest rebel group is headed to Congress. For five decades, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has been waging an insurgency against the country's government. But in 2012, the two sides began negotiating a peace deal, and in 2015, FARC officially declared a cease-fire. Congress is still in the process of approving the accord, but one of its most interesting components is the integration of FARC into the country's political system. FARC's newly created party will face intense competition and the specter of the group's violent past, which will prevent it from having much of an impact on Colombian policy, at least at first. But the country's more established parties will still need to heed FARC's congressional presence, since it could prove crucial in deciding the outcome of close votes in the legislature....

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