The FARC and other guerrilla movements claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor in Colombia to protect them from government violence and to provide social justice through communism. The reasons for fighting vary from group to group. It is historically rooted in the conflict known as La Violencia, which was triggered by the 1948 assassination of populist political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, and in the aftermath of United States-backed strong anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s that led liberal and communist militants to re-organize into FARC. Two of the most important international actors that have contributed to the Colombian conflict are multinational companies and the United States.

The Colombian conflict began in the mid-1960s and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between Colombian governments, paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the National Liberation Army (ELN), fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory.

Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis (2002–2009).

Total number of children displaced: 2.3 million children.

Victims of enforced disappearances: 25,007 Paramilitary successor groups, including the Black Eagles: 3,749 – 13,000 įARC: 13,980 (2016 ) ĮPL also known as 'Los Pelusos': 400 (2017) Top: Colombian soldiers in the conflict zoneīottom: FARC guerrillas at the Caguan peace talks For other Colombia-related conflicts, see List of wars involving Colombia. 'Colombian armed conflict' redirects here.

Colombian armed conflict timeline