Use of Internet by the FAR –EP. New confrontation stage or last space for political broadcasting

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate that since the end of the nineties, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) have been making a strategic use of the Internet. Through this medium, they have tried to overcome the difficulties posed by being considered a terrorist organization for their urban work and their political activities in Colombia and abroad. The Internet has made communication with other social and political actors possible, as well as providing greater security to its militants. It is not by chance that in less than 10 years the FARC-EP have created and taken part in at least 8 web sites and a similar number of Blogs. The conceptual framework of theoretical analysis of the writing consists on the work done by the Colombian researchers Gisela García and Liliana Paredes, on the “Use and appropriation of the new technologies by subversion” and on the theories and research by Manuel Castells on the social and political use of the New Information Technologies.