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The Colombian and American governments should increase their response to The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Weakened by the corruption sown by cocaine cartels and a decades-long civil war, the Colombian government faces a strong leftist insurgent group that not only wages guerrilla warfare but also carry’s out kidnappings, hijackings, attacks on civilians, and political assassinations. The FARC formed in the 1960’s after Colombia’s two main political parties ended more than a decade of political violence and agreed to share power. The group is governed by a secretariat, led by septuagenarian Manuel Marulanda, aka “Tirofijo”, and six others, including senior military commander Jorge Briceno, aka “Mono Jojoy.” The FARC brought together communist militants and peasant self-defense groups. These Marxist guerrillas are Colombia’s largest and best-equipped rebel group, with some 18,000 members. It operates in about half the country, mostly in the jungles of the southeast and the plains at the base of the Andes Mountains. They recruit new members among the farmers and peasants living on turf controlled by the FARC, who are in effect governed by the group; it also recruits from Colombian citizens