4 - Victims and Warriors: Representations and Self-Representations of the FARC-EP and Its Leaders

Summary

In May 2008, the founder of the oldest guerrilla group in the contemporary world died. His name was Pedro Antonio Marin—also known as Manuel Marulanda Velez or “Tirofijo” (Sureshot). Marin was the main leader of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC-EP; Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People's Army) from its foundation in 1966 to 2008. From a sociohistorical perspective, this guerrilla movement is a consequence of different factors. Perhaps the most important is the agrarian conflict in Colombia based on the distribution of the land (Pizarro, Las FARC [1949–2011]). From a sociopolitical angle, the FARC-EP is the result of a restricted democracy based on an institutionalized bipartisan model of government known as the National Front. However, few articles have been written about the ideology—generally defined as ideas, beliefs, and values—implicit in the way they represent themselves as guerrilla members and support the FARC as a collectivity.

This chapter offers an analysis of seven texts of nonfiction narratives about the FARC-EP and its leaders: Las vidas de Pedro Antonio Marín Manuel Marulanda Vélez Tirofijo (1989), Ciro Trujillo: Páginas de su vida (1974), Tirofijo: Los sueños y las montañas (1994), Colombia y las FARC-EP: Origen de la lucha guerrillera: Testimonio del comandante Jaime Guaraca (1999), Diario de un guerrillero (1970), Diario de la Resistencia en Marquetalia (1972), and Cuadernos de Campaña (1973). All these books were written by guerrilla leaders themselves— like Jacobo Arenas—or by writers who openly sympathized with the FARC cause—such as Luis Alberto Matta—member of the Union Patriotica, a legal political party founded by the FARC, and the Partido Comunista de Colombia (PCC) in 1985. Then, the national government, in the context of peace negotiations with the FARC, opened a political window so that FARC candidates could participate in national elections. For this reason these books are an important “testimony” in literary terms as both an alternative account of the facts offered by those who are excluded from the power and also a self-representation of FARC leaders and their justifications to exist as a guerrilla organization.