Corsican Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC)

The Corsican Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) is a Corsican nationalist group that seeks to end what it considers to be the "French occupation" of their native homeland. It claims that its operations usually target French "government interests" on the French mainland, though its attack history and statements issued in 2004 indicate that the organization is quite willing to engage French targets in Corsica as well.<br /><p><br />FARC first appeared in 1992 after claiming responsibility for several attacks in Corsica. For the remainder of the 1990s, the group showed no signs of activity, until it announced in 2000 that if peace negotiations did not begin, it would resume "armed struggle." In 2003, after claiming 8 attacks on targets in France, FARC denounced violent means, only to claim a 2004 attack in Corsica under the alias of the Corsican Revolutionary Armed Front (also FARC). <br />

Though still active, FARC remains one of the smaller players in the Corsican nationalist scene, which is still dominated by the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC). FARC, though not an official ally of the FLNC, supports the FNLC's political agenda.

Very little is known about Counterrevolutionary Solidarity (SC). The group claimed credit for a grenade attack and a brief burst of machine gun fire at the Nicaraguan Embassy in Guatemala City on Christmas Eve in 1983. No one was injured, but the blast damaged the building. Several days later, the group issued a public threat in a local newspaper against the Nicaraguan Ambassador, demanding that he leave the country within two days. The ambassador, Orlando Rojas Morales, refused. No report indicates that Morales was subsequently harmed by the group. <P><br /><br />Ambassador Morales was the representative of Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista government. From the group's target and its name, it can be inferred that Counterrevolutionary Solidarity was a band of right-wing militants. At the time, Guatemala was in the midst of its own vicious, decades-long civil war between left-wing rebels and right-wing governments. Successive conservative governments operated clandestine "death squads" with links to the military and police. These groups targeted left-wing guerrillas and intellectuals. What connection there may be between death squads and SC is unknown. It is likely that there was none at all. SC's amateurish attack and empty threat were most likely the work of local, self-styled vigilantes. However, the Guatemalan civil war does explain why representatives of the Sandinista government would be threatened by right-wing militants in Guatemala. <P><br /><br />One report of the Nicaraguan Embassy attack indicated that SC claimed credit for an identical machine gun and grenade attack against the Mexican Embassy around the same. This report, however, could not be confirmed by other sources. <P><br />