Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

jailed members, including the group’s founder Michael “Mickey” McKevitt, for a cease-fire and
disbandment, the RIRA has pledged additional violence and continued to conduct attacks.
Activities: Many RIRA members are former Provisional Irish Republican Army members who
left the organization after that group renewed its cease-fire in 1997. These members brought a
wealth of experience in terrorist tactics and bomb making to the RIRA. Targets have included
civilians (most notoriously in the Omagh bombing in August 1998), British security forces, and
police in Northern Ireland. The Independent Monitoring Commission, which was established to
oversee the peace process, assessed that RIRA members were likely responsible for the majority
of the shootings and assaults that occurred in Northern Ireland.
The group remained active in 2012. In April, RIRA was accused of planting a bomb near the
Newry Canal in south Armagh, Northern Ireland, with the intent of killing a passing police
patrol. The bomb weighed approximately 600 lbs.
Strength: According to the Irish government, the RIRA has approximately 100 active members.
The organization may receive limited support from IRA hardliners and Republican sympathizers
who are dissatisfied with the IRA’s continuing cease-fire and with Sinn Fein’s involvement in
the peace process.
Location/Area of Operation: Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and the Irish Republic.
Funding and External Aid: The RIRA is suspected of receiving funds from sympathizers in the
United States and of attempting to buy weapons from U.S. gun dealers. The RIRA was also
reported to have purchased sophisticated weapons from the Balkans and to have occasionally
collaborated with the Continuity Irish Republican Army.
REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA
aka FARC; Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia
Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is Latin America’s oldest, largest, most
violent, and best-equipped terrorist organization. The FARC began in the early 1960s as an
outgrowth of the Liberal Party-based peasant self-defense leagues, but took on Marxist ideology.
Today, it only nominally fights in support of Marxist goals, and is heavily involved in narcotics
production and trafficking. The FARC has been responsible for large numbers of kidnappings for
ransom in Colombia, and in past years has allegedly held as many as 700 hostages. The FARC’s
capacity has been degraded by a continuing Colombian military offensive targeting key FARC
units and leaders that has, by most estimates, halved the FARC’s numbers – estimated at
approximately 8,000 – and succeeded in capturing or killing a number of FARC senior and midlevel
commanders.
Activities: The FARC has carried out bombings, murders, mortar attacks, sniper attacks,
kidnapping, extortion, and hijacking, as well as guerrilla and conventional military acts against
Colombian political, military, civilian, and economic targets. The FARC has used landmines
extensively. The FARC has well-documented ties to the full range of narcotics trafficking
activities, including extortion, cultivation, and distribution.
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