Military structure of the FARC–EP

The military structure of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo ("Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army", or FARC–EP), formally began to be developed after the middle of 1964, when the Colombian Army occupied the town of Marquetalia.

The Colombian Army claimed they were cleaning the last remnants of "bandolerism", a mob justice system for displacement of adversaries, developed in the 10-year struggle for power between the Conservative and Liberal parties, during La Violencia (The Violence). They were influenced by the counterinsurgency tactics developed by the United States through its famous School of the Americas. This, of course, was opposed to the vision that the farmers had of themselves, as a demobilized Communist self-defense and guerrilla force, refugees from the government of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, working in a peaceful community. Following this attack, the scattered rebels reunited and eventually founded the FARC in 1966, establishing the beginnings of the internal structure and strategic outlook.

According to internal regulations, every member of the FARC–EP's military forces has to take a vow in which they formally assume the commitment of fighting to establish "social justice" in Colombia. FARC members consider the necessary path to achieve this goal is through Marxism and Leninism, additionally influenced by the ideas of the Cuban Revolution and Che Guevara.

The symbol in the center of the FARC–EP flag is a book and two rifles in the middle of a map of Colombia, which transmits the message "learn and fight for Colombia", as a sign of the importance ideological education has for the FARC–EP. The three colors in the background are yellow, blue and red, common to the flags of Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia in northern South America. These colors also indicate the region's shared past and identity under Bolívar's Greater Colombia.

Roughly from 1949 to 1964, during the "La Violencia" period of Colombian history, the FARC's precursor was a small Communist guerrilla band which usually engaged in "hit and run" warfare against their enemies and members of local Colombian security forces, when not implementing necessary activities for its self-defense from rival irregular groups. The group answered only to representatives of the Colombian Communist Party, which provided political cadres, recruits and small donations as support.

Because of the period's political turmoil, the Colombian government initially was unaware of the activities of this group of rebels. Towards the end of the period the group had settled in the Marquetalia area inside the Tolima department together with some of the fighters' family members, continuing to weapons and occasionally establishing a form of defensive perimeter. The construction of a form of primitive "commune" was attempted in practice, trying to organize an autonomous settlement under collective Communist ideals, combining military concerns with daily activities.

After the May 1964 Colombian Army attack, most of the rebels in Marquetalia scattered, soon gathering under a new "Southern Bloc" (Bloque Sur) guerrilla unit, which reinitiated "hit and run" attacks and once again implemented a more offensive posture. In 1966, the FARC was formally created as a slightly enlarged guerrilla entity (estimated at a total of 350 members divided in six guerrilla fronts) that continued to engage in this type of operations, additionally placing a greater political emphasis in openly revolutionary aims.

Still, during the 1970s the FARC kept a low profile by staying inside its traditional heartland areas, while newer guerrilla groups, such as the 19th of April Movement, appeared and achieved a greater degree of national influence as well as a more active urban presence.