Since 1964, created in the jungle of Southern Tolima, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP/FARC) have been in conflict with the Colombian government over economic, political and social differences.

In English, FARC-EP means the “Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army.”

In an interview with The Post Online, an Amsterdam media company, FARC fighter Tanja Nijmeijer stated the logical behind her party’s actions, “The simple fact that we want to participate politically is not accepted by the power elite. [...] In 1964, the year in which the FARC was founded, farmers asked the government, ‘Help us, we want land to farm on’ But the government has always responded with violence to such requests.”

The mid-1960s marked the birth of this group whose forefathers and leaders were Manuel Marulanda Vélez and Jacobo Arenas that rose up in opposition to the “anti-communist wave [that] swept through Latin America and the Caribbean, encouraged by the US government, expressed in the theory of National Security and guided by the principle of the internal enemy, which was systematically instilled in the military and police forces of the continent,” according to their international website.

“According to this theory, all political opposition, all traces of social unrest and any popular expression engaged with an economic, social or political transformation was considered part of a Soviet plan for world domination and therefore, enemies to be exterminated.”

From then on, they have been in a 52 year continuous battle with the Colombian government.

The reason they took up arms is outlined in their first politically centered document, the Agrarian Program of the Guerrilla Fighters, which is not fully on their website however an excerpt states, “We have risen up in arms because the doors to a legal, peaceful and democratic political struggle were closed in our country.”

“You have to look at it like this: the FARC is a political party that took up armed combat because that was the only option left. But we are not married to our guns. We can leave our weapons when we move on as a political party” states Nijmeijer.

The civil war has generated, provided by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2012, 25,000 missing, 220,000 deaths and 5.7 million displaced. The American Military News reported that the United States has spent $10 billion on aiding the Colombian government.

According to the Americas Society/Council of the Americas’ website, the peace talks began in November 2012 and have continued since. July 20, 2016, marked the day FARC agreed to begin one month of unilateral ceasefire, a major step in peace since the last meeting in April ended in bloodshed when FARC attacked.

“President Juan Manuel Santos called the deal "the beginning of the end to the suffering, pain and tragedy of war"” provided by British Broadcasting Station (BBC).

On Aug. 24, both the Colombian government and FARC agreed to end the conflict. The meeting took place in Havana, Cuba.

However, the Colombian people must approve the deal in the voting booths on Oct. 2.

National Public Radio (NPR) reported that polls indicate, “most Colombians loathe the rebel group known as the FARC and show no hesitation labeling them "narco-terrorists" for their heavy involvement in Colombia's cocaine trade.”

The Washington Post also reported about a Colombian expert, Adam Isacson, who commented on the deal.

“The justice agreement and FARC’s return to politics are the two biggest points in the peace deal that will be “hugely unpopular in Colombia and carry a political cost for Santos,”” he stated. “But he said FARC has arguably given up more in the negotiations, since it scratched much of its wish list items, including land reform, full amnesty and an end to forcible coca eradication.”