Myths of Marquetalia: The State of Colombian Historiography at the FARC’s Fiftieth

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Abstract

May 2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia). This paper revisits the Army’s 1964 invasion of Marquetalia, the frontier region which birthed the Communist guerrilla that would form the nucleus of the FARC. In particular, the paper examines the history of ideas about Marquetalia that continue to dominate popular understandings of the FARC’s creation. Drawing on ten years of research in Colombian and U.S. government records, Communist Party publications, and obscure provincial newspapers, the paper traces the genealogy of claims regarding the size of the contending Communist and government forces, the nature of their warfare, and the extent of U.S. involvement. In particular, the paper argues that, rather than reflecting events within rural Colombia, these claims originated with urban cadres addressing global Cold War audiences.
By probing the specific mythology of Marquetalia, the paper seeks to reflect on the state of the Colombian historiography at a moment when both the government and the FARC have embraced the necessity of a truth commission within the country’s broader push toward peace. What are the implications as future accounts of Colombia’s past openly embrace a plurality of viewpoints, as occurred with the February 2015 Informe de la Comisión Histórica del Conflicto y sus Víctimas, the forerunner to the eventual truth commission? What place might historical methodologies have within this landscape? How might historians seek to move beyond the limited existing universe of sources about the FARC and Colombia’s armed conflict?

Author

• Robert Karl, Princeton University