In April 1984, four of the Red Brigades' key leaders wrote a communique from their jail cells.  In the open letter, the leaders proclaimed further armed combat as futile.  The Red Brigades essentially ceased to exist with this letter.  In their words, "The international conditions that made this struggle possible no longer exist." (Xavier Raufer, "The Red Brigades: Farewell to Arms," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 1993, Vol.16)<p><p>However, the legacy of the Red Brigades continues to this day.  Following the release of this letter, two splinter groups broke off from the Red Brigades: the New Red Brigades/Communist Combatant Party (BR/PCC) and the Red Brigades/Union of Combatant Communists (BR/UCC).  The BR/PCC specifically has chosen to continue in the ideological and violent path of the Red Brigades.

A member of Red Daughters of Rage threw a firebomb at a German pharmaceutical firm in Vienna on September 20, 1995.  The firm was hosting American visitors and flying a United States flag.  The firm was targeted for affiliation with an American genetics firm which allegedly participated in forced sterilizations in third world countries.  The firebomb failed to detonate.  Red Daughters of Rage has not been heard of since this incident.

Red Daughters of Rage is no longer active.

In the past, Red Flag has had links with the Cuban government and other terrorist groups (M-19, ETA). These links may have been used to finance the group. Also, Red Flag raised money through ransoms from kidnappings, although they did not demand ransom fo

In 1992, what remained of Red Flag supported both Hugo Chavez's attempted coup in February and another attempted coup in November.  The group was implicated in several execution-style murders of security forces during the November coup. Shortly afterwards, Red Flag entered Venezuelan politics as a small player loosely associated with Hugo Chavez.  <P><br /><br />After Hugo Chavez was elected Venezuela's president in 1998, some former Red Flag members joined the Chavez government, most notably Carlos Lanz Rodriguez, who participated in the kidnapping of William Niehous. Rodriguez has held high-level posts under Chavez in the Ministry of Education. However, support for Chavez among Red Flag elements was not unanimous and eventually withered. In the last few years, Red Flag has aligned with Chavez's opponents from Venezuela's center-left and center-right.  Red Flag has participated in a number of anti-Chavez demonstrations, most notably a large opposition march against Chavez on January 23rd, 2002. Red Flag now is seeking to build a viable center-left opposition to Chavez. The group is no longer an active terrorist organization. <P> <br />