Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias

(FAR)

   / Revolutionary Armed Forces

   A militant organization begun in 1966 as the Argentine branch of Che Guevara’s guerrillas. Che’s death in 1967 and the popular uprising in Córdoba (the cordobazo) led the group, under the leadership of Carlos Enrique Olmedo and Roberto Jorge Quieto, to initiate urban struggle in 1969. The FAR originally described itself as Marxist-Leninist-Peronist, but by 1971 had shifted to Peronism. It had a reputation for technical expertise, earned in such operations as the 1969 bombing of a supermarket chain owned by Nelson Rockefeller and the July 1970 capture of the small town of Garín (population 30,000) near Buenos Aires. The group’s development was hampered by the capture of several members in 1970 and 1971 and the resulting disclosure of vital information. Protected by the Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas (FAP, Peronist Armed Forces), FAR survived and continued to conduct operations, often with other guerrilla groups, until their merger with the Montoneros in October 1973.