Terrorist Organization Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Terrorist Organization - Assignment Example Due to the paralysis that the FARC experienced after most of its guerilla leaders and some high-ranking officials were killed and sent to prison, respectively, it was initially labeled as a group with a low chance of committing terrorist acts. However, it was also highly-capable of resurgence, which keeps it in the official list of designated terrorist groups of the Bureau of Counterterrorism. Foreign Terrorist Organizations or FTO’s are defined as foreign organizations that were designated by the Secretary of State as groups that engage in terrorist activities, as well as having intentions of threatening and terrorizing regions or whole countries, including the US (Bureau of Counterterrorism, US State Department, 2012). There are currently 51 recognized and designated FTO’s around the world as of September this year, all of which are known to operate underground. While these FTO’s have various means of getting financial assistance, as well as having their own set of goals such as liberation from the current government in the home country, these groups are all known to pose large threats due to their military-like capabilities. An example of a FTO that already has a long history is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC (Fuerzas Armada Revolucionarias de Colombia), which is one of the oldest and largest leftist groups in Latin America (Atkins, 2004). The founding leader of the group is Manuel Marulanda, and he established a group with some of his kin and separated from the state in 1949 after an uncle was killed during the civil war between liberals and conservatives. After being invaded by the army in May 1964, Marulanda and most of the members escaped and regrouped in the south, and combining his group with the Columbian Communist Party headed by Jacobo Arenas, a new group was formed, which was FARC (Atkins, 2004). The group