Operation Marqutalia

History
FARC’s roots go back to the early 20th century. Communists were active within Colombia since the end of the first world war. In 1926 the Revolutionary Socialist Party (PSR) was formed yet it transformed into the Communist Party in Columbia (PCC). The PCC had a large and strong agrarian following in addition to its more urban membership. PCC members began to form small communes in rural parts of the country. (Brittain 2010)
The formation of the National Front changed everything. There was a period of civil war known as “La Violencia” where the government and the conservative party battled against the liberal party and the PCC. The civil conflict was resolved in 1958 when the liberal party and the conservative party agreed to enter into
The Columbian government launched ‘Operation Marquetalia’ on May 27th, 1964. The operation was intended to hurt what the government viewed as a “growing communist threat” within the regions of El Duda, El Pato, and Guayabero which were known by locals as “Marquetalia”. This region was an enclave for communists, mainly the PCC. Operation Marqutalia had two suboperations: “Cabeza” and “Soberanía”. Operation Marquetalia had two objectives. One objective was to kill a Pedro Antonio Marín (known as Manuel Marulanda Vélez) and his forces. Marulanda was a member of the PCC’s Central Committee and he was also a prominent guerilla leader. The second objective was to eliminate self-defense groups in the region and take back the land. Success was critical in the eyes of Columbian leaders and the resources allocated for the operation show this. Professor James J. Britain wrote, “By mid-1964, the Colombian state had devoted over US$17 million alongside one-third of its entire army to defeat Marulanda and the network of self-defense communities…” (Brittain 2010) A massive operation with strong political and symbolic significance, is how one could describe Operation Marquetalia. Ultimately, the operation failed though it did retake a large amount of land from the self-defense forces. Marulanda survived the conflict and the self-defense forces survived
It is estimated that there were 50 to 200 total self-defense guerillas throughout all of Marquetalia during the operation. The Columbian military and government were humiliated since they struggled to fight a few armed guerillas in the forrest. Operation Marquetalia also pressured the self-defense forces to change. Doctrine and strategies were either changed to became better through practice. The sustained combat has also been attributed to be the cause for the formation of FARC and its