ABSTRACT
In the early 1960s, a group of students led by Fabio Vasquez Castano explored the possibility of starting a guerrilla foco in the department of Santander. Vasquez was neither a peasant nor a member of the Communist Party. His ideological affiliation lay with the Movimiento de Obreros, Estudiantes y Campesinos, Colombia's first revolutionary group. For the Ejercito De Liberacion Nacional (ELN), guerrilla warfare was the indispensable means by which to solve Colombia's problems. The ELN succeeded in capitalizing on the radical feelings of several Colombian priests. Its most famous recruit was Camilo Torres, a young priest from a distinguished Colombian family who had developed a large following among students and others with his social and political militancy. The Ejercito Popular de Liberacion was created in 1967 by the Partido Comunista Colombiano—Marxista Leninista as its guerrilla arm following peasant revolts in Sinu and San Jorge.
