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image by Jaume Ollé
image by Jaume Ollé
This is the review on the (CNG - CGSB) taken from <www.tkb.org>:
"Mothertongue Name: Coordinadora Guerrillera Simón Bolívar
(CGSB). Base of Operation: Colombia.
Founding Philosophy: In the 1980s, several leftist terrorist
organizations in Colombia created an umbrella organization, from
which to coordinate negotiations with the Colombian government
and to coordinate certain terrorist activities. The National
Guerrilla Coordinating Board (CNG), formed in 1985, was the
forerunner to a broader coordinating board. In 1987, CNG was
reconstituted as the Simon Bolivar Coordinating Board (CGSB).
CGSB was created as a unified front for the
terrorist-organization members. While CGSB engaged the government
in negotiations, the terrorist members simultaneously held onto
their rebel-controlled areas and remained willing, at varying
levels, to commit terrorist attacks. The Simon Bolivar
Coordinating Board was comprised of Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), April 19 Movement (M-19), National Liberation
Army (ELN), Popular Liberation Army (EPL), Workers' Revolutionary
Party (PRT) and the Quintin Lame Command.
CGSB participated in a series of government talks in the early
1990s. The talks were jeopardized several times by terrorist
attacks of the FARC and ELN. Despite the continuing aggression of
the two largest terrorist groups, CGSB did achieve limited
success. Resulting from government negotiations, M-19 put down
its arms in 1990. EPL's main body followed step, ceasing its
operations in 1991. However, Colombia's largest leftist terrorist
organizations, FARC and ELN, did not reach a settlement with the
government and continue terrorist operations to this day. In
fact, while some groups seriously negotiated for an end to
hostilities, other elements of the CGSB continued to perpetrate
terrorist attacks, claiming attacks both under the umbrella of
CGSB and as individual terrorist groups.
Current Goals: The Simon Bolivar Coordinating Board (CGSB)
disbanded in the early 1990s. While certain CGSB factions ceased
terrorist operations in the early 1990s, the FARC and ELN remain
significant terrorist organizations".
E.R., 23 March 2005
image by Ivan Sache, 23 Febuary 2002
The flag of Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional is at <www.eln-voces.com>.
The flag and emblem of ELN is explained by the organization in
this site.
Dov Gutterman, 8 March 1999 and Jaume Ollé, 19
April 2001
From <www.tkb.org>:
Mothertongue Name: Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN). Base of
Operation: Colombia.
Founding Philosophy: The ELN is a Cuban Revolution-inspired
group, heavily influenced by the early actions and theories of
Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. The ELN emerged following the
overthrow of the Cuban government by Guevara and Castro in 1959.
The National Liberation Army was founded by two distinct groups.
The first group comprised of urban, left-wing intellectuals with
strong ties to rural farmers. They co-founded the group with a
radicalized group of oil sector unionists from Barrancabermeja's
oil industry. Radical members of the Catholic clergy joined the
group in late 1965. This was the first time that Christians and
Marxists had joined together in a Colombian revolutionary
movement. The ELN's unique founding philosophy strongly
emphasized socialism, mixing Castro-ism with the liberation
theology of the Catholic Church. More concretely, the ELN's
self-appointed role was to represent the rural poor and decrease
the foreign presence in Colombia. The ELN's goal was to take
power from the Colombian government and replace it with a more
egalitarian "popular democracy" that would represent
all Colombians equally under the law. The ELN strongly opposed
foreign investment, in part due to its location in an oil-rich
area and its connections to trade unionists in the energy sector.
The Colombian Department of Administrative Security estimates
that in 1998 alone, the ELN obtained U.S. $84 million from
ransoms and U.S.$255 million from extortion. Employees of oil
companies constitute a large percentage of the ELN's targets. The
kidnapping and extortion of oil company employees is ELN's
primary source of income. This is a natural legacy of ELN's
formation in an area rich with oil wells and oil companies. A
third, more recent source of income is the collection of a
"property" tax from coca and poppy cultivators. It is
not known whether the collection of property taxes is a
centralized or decentralized activity.
Current Goals: Throughout its history, the National Liberation
Army steadily gravitated towards violence and armed struggle as a
means to attain a socialist Colombia. At the ELN's 1996 national
conference, the group decided to decrease emphasis on creating a
purely socialist Colombia. Instead, the ELN has returned to its
founding objective: popular democracy for all Colombians,
propagated at the local level. The ELN has not given up the use
of violence in its efforts.
E.R., 23 March 2005
I found another version
of the ELN's flag at <www.ejercito.mil.co>.
The ELN uses sometimes their Coat
of Arms on their red/black flag,
E.R., 8 and 16 June 2005
![[M19 Guerilla Movement (Colombia)]](../images/c/co}eln1.gif)
image by Eugene Ipavec, 17 August 2008
There is another version of the armed group called ELN at Army's
official website at news article dated June 2005. Motto in
white ring is "NI UN PASO ATRAS - LIBERACION O MUERTE"
(Not one step back - Liberation or death). There is another
curved inscription above the ring that is unreadable.
E.R. and Eugene Ipavec, 31 August 2006
![[M19 Guerilla Movement (Colombia)]](../images/c/co}eln2.gif)
image by Zoltan Horvath, 18 May 2014
During a recent video
one can see a white flag with the
logo (on the left)
of the ELN. This is a variant of the already reported flag.
Esteban Rivera, 18 May 2014
image by Jaume Ollé
The National Liberation Army- Camilista Union, (ELN-UC),
insurgent group in Colombia, uses also Black & Red flag and
generally, with the abbreviations of the group on the division of
the stripes in yellow letters. Given the bonds of ELN with Cuba,
it's possible that the ELN's flag is based fundamentally on the
one of "July 26' Movement".
Carlos Thompson, 30 September 2004
image by Jaume Ollé Casals posted in I Love Flags, 29
December 2012
The called "Pérez the Priest", famous Catholic father and leader of the
Ejército Nacional de Colombia, born in Aragon, deceased in March 1998. In an
archival image we can see the Curate Perez with a flag that seems to be from a
mass organization supported by the guerrillas: The Unión Camilista. Probably
the name is derived from the first leader of the guerrilla, another catholic
father, Camilo Torres.
Jaume Ollé Casals, 29 December 2012
image from <www.cedema.org>
The ELN has had over the past years several breakaway
factions. One of the most important ones was the Corriente de
Renovación Socialista (CRS, Socialist Renovation Movement). It
emerged during the peace talks between the leftist guerrillas and
the Colombian government in the early 1990's. It appeared
officially in 1991, and it acted mainly in the Departments of
Sucre, Córdoba and Bolívar. It also signed a peace agreement on
April 9, 1994.
Source: <www.mediosparalapaz.org>.
E.R., 19 February 2007
image by Eugene Ipavec,
I found a PDF
document with important information on the CRS. In it you can
see pictures of armed fighters wearing the new version of the
demobilized CRS flag and logo (on pages 129, 133 and 134 of the
document). It has three white letters CRS, on the tricolour flag
resembling the Colombian flag.
E.R., 14 September 2007
image by Eugene Ipavec, 30 January 2012
image by Eugene Ipavec, 30 January 2012
Social Party of National Unity (Spanish: Partido Social de Unidad Nacional),
or Party of the U (Spanish: Partido de U) is a liberal conservative political
party (center-right) established in 2005. On June 20, 2010, Colombia elected for
the first time in their history a member of the Party of the U to the Presidency
of Colombia, that being Juan Manuel Santos (current President).
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Party_of_National_Unity
The Party's flag is a red (top), yellow (middle), green (bottom) horizontal flag
with the
logo in the middle.
Screenshot taken on January 27, 2012 of tv
slot granted to all political parties before the 7 p.m. news on public
television boradcast) This flag can also be found
here.
Source:
http://www.elliberal.com.co/liberal/politica/105136-partido-de-la-u-pide-al-gobierno-que-retire-reforma-a-la-educacion
A variant can also be seen
here.
(Source:
http://www.eltiempo.com/noticias/partido-de-la-u )
For additional information go to: Partido
de la U (official website)
Esteban Rivera, 28 January 2012
Original EPL Flag
image by Jaume Ollé
New EPL Flag
image by Eugene Ipavec, 29 July 2007
Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Old Flag)
image by Jaume Ollé
Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (New Logo)
image by E.R., 23 March 2005
From <www.tkb.org>:
Mothertongue Name: Ejército Popular de Liberación (EPL). Base
of Operation: Colombia.
Founding Philosophy: The Popular Liberation Army grew out of the
Colombian Communist movement of the 1960s. In 1967, the
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (ML-CP) broke off from the
larger communist political party, the Colombian Communist Party.
Dissatisfied with the political chaos of 1960's Colombia, the
ML-CP augmented its political organization with an armed wing in
1967. The new group soon embarked on terrorist activities under
the name People's Liberation Army. Both the ML-CP and EPL
advocated the Maoist ideology of sparking a national socialist
revolution by beginning in the countryside. Efforts to
indoctrinate the peasantry largely failed and the EPL never
reached the size of larger Colombian terrorist insurgencies such
as the FARC and ELN. In an effort to expand their support base,
the EPL abandoned strict Maoism in 1980. The group continued,
however, to work toward the goal of overthrowing the
democratically elected Colombian government and replacing it with
a communist state. Furthermore, the EPL continued to pursue these
insurrectionist goals through terrorist activities.
Current Goals: The EPL was one of the principal groups that
pushed for a peace accord with the Colombian government in the
early 1980s. With the signing of the peace accord in 1984, the
EPL attempted to join mainstream Colombian politics. Their
efforts were blocked, however, by the newly formed right-wing
paramilitary groups, such as the ACCU. In an effort to derail the
efforts to grant the politicization of the EPL, the right-wing
paramilitary groups attacked political representatives of the
EPL. The peace accord soon unraveled as other leftist groups, the
paramilitaries, and the Colombian Army continued their attacks on
one another.
Following the failure of the peace accord, the EPL attempted to
rejoin the violent fray involving the guerillas and Colombian
security forces, but this attempt proved futile. The EPL
essentially disbanded in 1991, when it signed a truce with the
Colombian government, although a breakaway faction operating
under the same name refused to accept the truce. This breakaway
faction continues to operate today, despite the arrest of its
co-founder and principal leader, Francisco Caraballo, in 1994.
I reccomend you read the article on wikipedia
to understand the flags.
E.R., 23 March 2005
EPL had lost political protagonism over the years and it is
basically only active in the North Eastern region of the
Department of Antioquia known as
Urabá.
More information on Hope, Peace, and Liberty (Esperanza Paz y
Libertad) at wikipedia.
E.R., 12 August and 3 September 2007
image by Eugene Ipavec, 17 July 2007
Horizontal blue-white-red. Similar colors to M19 Guerilla Movement flag. Source is
Smith (1975) [smi75a], pp.
340-341 ("Symbols in politics"). Smith says that these
are real flags and not only party emblems, which may differ in
colours when used as emblem or in a flag.
Ivan Sache, 6 August 1999
ANAPO (Alianza Nacional Popular, People's National Alliance)
was founded by Lt. General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in 1961). The
ANAPO lasted more than three decades, gaining importance on the
State and Local level as well, but it ceased to exist in 1998.
Many of its members are now part of the PDI
(Polo Democrático Independiente).
Flag appears at Registraduría's
official website.
E.R., 17 July 2007
image by Jaume Ollé
image by Jaume Ollé
In 1984 a new guerrilla group emerged in Colombia: the
Movimiento Armado Quintín Lame (Quintin Lame Armed Movement),
named after a NASA tribe leader (Manuel Quintín Lame Chantre),
it was a guerrilla group, thus an illegal armed organization. It
entered peace talks with Colombia's government and laid down its
weapons in May 1991.
E.R., 23 March 2005
image by Eugene Ipavec, 25 October 2005
The flag of the ERP (Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo, or
Revolutionary People's Army), a breakaway faction of the ELN. The ERP was formed in 1996. The
lettering style is the same as the ELN, only the color scheme is
different.
Source: <www.geocities.com/ta-erpkomm.html>.
E.R., 25 October 2005
In recent news, the ERP has fully demobilized on April 30,
2007 as stated by the Minister of Defense of Colombia. This day,
the last 18 combatants from this ELN
breakaway independent faction demobilized after starting military
actions in August 10, 1996. The total number of demobilized
illegal armed fighters, including the last 18, is 54 during the
whole month of April, in a series of multiple demobilizations.
The faction operated in the Municpalities of San Jacinto,
Maríalabaja, El Carmen de Bolívar, San Juan Nepomuceno, located
in the Department of Bolivar and the
Municipalities of Ovejas, Chalán, Colosó and Las Palmitas,
located in the Department of Sucre.
Among the combatants are 16 women and two newly born children.
This demobilization process took place in part due to the
pressure of the Army, but also from the FARC,
another guerrilla force who is battling other guerrillas (i.e.
the ELN ) in order to gain superiority.
Sources: La FM
adiostation, El
Tiempo newspaper, Military
Forces General Command, Semana
magazine.
E.R., 9 June 2007
image by Pascal Gross and Guillermo Aveledo, 3
June 2000
.jpg)
Emblem
image contributed by E.R., 24 July 2005
I found the official site of the FARC guerrilla group on the
web, and you can see their flag. It's the same as the colombian
flag, but it has a Colombian map along with two assault rifles
crossed . There's also a little squared thing, but I can't see
much. The link to it is <burn.ucsd.edu/~farc-ep>.
Their official name is: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) or Revolutionary Armed
Force of Colombia-People's Army. The guerrilla group known as
FARC-EP was created in 1964.
Ramiro Rivera Sanchez,19 January 1999
I belive that the" little squared thing" is an open
book.
Jorge Candeias,20 January 1999
Revolutionary Armed Forces, People's Army (FARC-EP Fuerzas
Arnadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejercito Popular) - This
well-known guerrilla group is the main guerrilla movement in
Colombia, above from the National
Liberation Army (ELN). The flag of the FARC-EP is a regular
Colombian tricolor with the group's logo on its centre. The logo
consists of a Colombiam continental map, in white, fimbriated in
black. Within the map we see the letters 'FARC-EP' in a bold
type, an open book and a pair of crossed, semi-automatic, rifles.
Guillermo Aveledo, 3 June 2000
The correct name of the movement is: Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejercito del Pueblo. A short
presentation of the FARC, based on Courrier International
#711, 17 June 2004 (French translation of a paper by Eduardo
Pizarro Leongomez, originally published in El Tiempo,
Bogota): On 9 April 1948, the Liberal leader Jorge Eliecer
Galtan was murdered, which triggered violent riots in Bogota,
known as Bogotazo. The next ten years are known as the Violencia
period, a civil war between the Liberals and the Conservatives
that caused more than 200,000 dead. In 1958, the two parties
signed the pact of National Front, by which they abandoned
violence and shared the power. The President of the Republic was
alternatively chosen in each party. The system lasted until 1974.
On 27 May 1964, the Colombian army attacked Marquetalia, which
was the headquarters of Communist revolutionaries and farmers'
self-defense militia, ruled by Manuel Marulanda, aka Tirofijo
(Bang on target). Following the assault, the militia were
organized into guerillas. Initially called Frente Sur (Front
South), the guerillas were renamed FARC two years later. The FARC
were reorganized and renamed FARC-EP in 1982. On 28 March 1984,
the FARC-EP signed an agreement in La Uribe with the
Colombian government. A cease-of-fire was implemented on 28 May.
The agreement included the creation of a legal political party by
the FARC-EP, called UP (Patriotic Union). More than 3,500 members
of the UP were murdered in the next two years, including two
candidates to the Presidential election. In December 1990, the
bombing of the Casa Verde, the FARC-EP headquarters, by
the Colombian army ended the peace process. A new round of
negotiations started on 7 January 1999 between the FARC-EP and
Andres Pastrana's government in the demilitarized area of Caguan
(42,000 sq. km). The area was placed under the control of the
FARC-EP until the breakdown of the negotiations in February 2002.
The FARC have today some 15,000-17,000 members.
FARC-EP homepage at <www.farcep.org>.
Ivan Sache, 27 December 2004
From <www.tkb.org>:
"Mothertongue Name: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia (FARC).
Aliases: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejercito
del Pueblo (FARC-EP).
Base of Operation: Colombia.
Founding Philosophy: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) grew out of the Colombian Communist Party of the 1960s.
Unsurprisingly, the FARC was founded as a Communist organization.
The FARC leaned towards the Marxist strain of Communism and
received a limited amount of funding from the Soviet Union during
the Cold War. The FARC's stated goal is to overthrow the current
democratic government of Colombia and replace it with a Communist
government.
While the FARC is undoubtedly the largest and oldest of the
Communist insurgent groups of Colombia, it is not necessarily the
most dogmatic in its devotion to the Marxist ideology. In fact,
the FARC's growing hand in cocaine trafficking, and even
production, coupled with its on-again, off-again peace talks with
the Colombian government, indicate that the ideological backbone
of the FARC is at best, ill-defined. However, a significant
portion of the FARC's leadership, including FARC chief Manuel
Marulanda, have been part of the organization since its founding
and are presumably still dedicated to its Marxist ideology. The
FARC continues to wage a war of words devoted to Marxist
principles, despite the fact that many of its battles are fought
with the less idealistic motive of controlling the illicit drug
inustry.
Current Goals: Today, the FARC's primary goal is territorial
control within Colombia. The FARC has several sources for the
money it needs to pursue this goal. The majority of its funding
comes from the cocaine trade, but the FARC also pursues
kidnapping, extortion, and hijacking. In addition to these
operations, the FARC also attacks Colombian political and
military installations. Its activities frequently disrupt
economic activity in Colombia, particularly when conflicts with
Colombia's rightist paramilitary groups break out. Ordinary
Colombian citizens are often caught in the middle of this violent
and bloody struggle.
The FARC's larger goals are a matter for speculation. For four
decades the FARC has struggled to overthrow the Colombian
government. This does not seem likely unless the FARC
dramatically shifts its approach and increases its strength. The
more likely outcome is that the FARC will continue to destabilize
Colombian democracy but never actually overthrow the government.
Furthermore, the FARC's recent participation in peace talks
demonstrates a certain willingness to negotiate with its
ideological enemies. The FARC's ideological commitment is in
doubt, but its immediate goals are not. The FARC aims to maintain
its significant financial and territorial power. From all
indications, the FARC will continue its violent criminal action
for the foreseeable future."
More information at <en.wikipedia.org>.
E.R., 8 June 2005
1) 
image by Eugene Ipavec, Pascal Gross and Guillermo
Aveledo, 14 February 2006
A photo of a variant
with shield of the FARC flag, appeared on the front page of
today's (29 June 2001) Miami Herald, with the headline
"Rebels Free Colombian Troops" and the caption
describing the release of "242 government soldiers and
police released Thursday by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia [FARC] outside La Macarena, in the heart of a 26,000
square-mile area of jungle and savanna under FARC control. The
troops were freed by the rebels in a unilateral hand-over after
more than three years in captivity".
Al Kirsch and Jaume Ollé, 29 June 2001
The variant is based on photos at FARC news
website and SEMANA magazine.
E.R., 14 February 2006
2) 
image by Eugene Ipavec, 17 March 2006
On March 8, 2006, the biggest demobilization yet (outside
peace process with the Colombian giovernment) of a guerrilla
group, took place on the Department of Tolima. There a FARC
guerrilla structure laid down its weapons on a ceremony headed by
the Alto Comisionado Para La Paz (High Commissioner For Peace).
During this ceremony a new FARC flag variant came to light.
Source: El
Mundo newspaper, from the city of Medellín.
E.R., 17 March 2006
3) 
image by Eugene Ipavec, 27 May 2006
Another variant of the flag of the Farc Colombian guerrilla.
The flag is the same tricolor flag of Colombia, plus the Farc
emblem on the middle (outlined only, not in color).
Source: Farc 2006 calendar at <www.farcep.org>.
E.R., 27 May 2006
image located by Esteban Rivera, 31 January 2013
There's currently some direct conversations being held in Havana between the
Colombian government and the Farc. During these talks, a variant flag can be
observed:
Image:
http://ntn24-img.s3.amazonaws.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/320x240/farc_dialogos_colombia_afp_320_.jpg
Source:
NTN24,
and allied boradcast channel of RCN news channel)
Esteban Rivera, 31 January 2013
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