The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army
(Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del
Pueblo), also known by the acronym of FARC or FARC-EP, are a
Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization. The FARC
are considered a terrorist group by the Colombian government,
the United States Department of State, Canada and the European
Union. A number of countries, including Brazil, do not classify
the FARC as terrorist because it would be an impediment to
holding direct peace negotiations with them, while other
countries, including Cuba and Venezuela, are more sympathetic to
the FARC. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for example,
publicly rejected their classification as "terrorists" in
January 2008 and called on the Colombian government and
international community to recognize the guerrillas as a
“belligerent force”, arguing that this would then oblige them to
renounce kidnappings and terror acts in order to respect the
Geneva Conventions. In December of 2007 a Copenhagen cit