COLOMBIA: FARC PREPARE TO LAUNCH POLITICAL PARTY

(29 Apr 2000) Spanish/Nat
XFA
Colombia's biggest left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia or F-A-R-C, is preparing for the launch of its own political wing.

Thousands of guerrillas have been assembling in southern Colombia in advance of the inauguration, due to take place on Saturday.

The political body, called the Bolivarian Movement, will have anonymous membership until peace accords have been negotiated with Colombia's government.

Preparations are underway in the remote jungle town of San Vicente del Caguan prior to the inauguration of the political party of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (F-A-R-C) on Saturday.

Thousands of guerrillas left the misty jungles of southern Colombia in unprecedented numbers to come to F-A-R-C's stronghold in San Vicente del Caguan.

The F-A-R-C is Colombia's biggest left-wing rebel group, and its political wing has been named the Bolivarian Movement, after the South American independence hero, Simon Bolivar.

It has been suggested that this is further evidence that the F-A-R-C is ready to move away from being a purely military organisation to being a political one.

The commander of the F-A-R-C, Jorge Briceno, insisted that his organisation was engaged in a dialogue with Colombia's government

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"The political moment of the country is now. We are in dialogue with the government and now we are contributing to this process to show the world that we have a lot of interest and that we want a civilised way different to war"
SUPER CAPTION: Jorge Briceno, FARC Commander

FARC's political party demands include radical wealth distribution, sweeping agricultural reforms, and an end to unfettered free market economic policies.

Briceno remains wary of the F-A-R-C becoming an official opposition movement.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"This is a clandestine movement, we are taking the experiences of the UP (Union Patriotica) so we do not repeat those mistakes again because we do not have democracy in Colombia for opposition parties."
SUPER CAPTION: Jorge Briceno, FARC Commander

The party's membership will remain anonymous until it negotiates a peace accord with the government.

In the 1980s, two thousand members of the F-A-R-C's political wing were killed by right-wing death squads.

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