2024-04-06 12:13:26
Some boots, a canteen, a plate of rice and the promise of a better life accompany the text that indicates: “the Jaime Martínez Front awaits you, young man”, messages with which the largest dissident group of the FARC recruit via TikTok In colombia.
The front operates in the department of Cauca and responds to Central General Staff (EMC), the largest faction of dissidents who rejected the 2016 peace agreement between the defunct FARC guerrilla and the Colombian government. Since the end of 2023 they have been in talks with the left-wing president Gustavo Petro.
At the same time, they maintain a propaganda campaign on social networks, with uniformed influencers surrounded by narcoculture and promises of wealth set to Mexican corridos.
In TikTokand to a lesser extent in Facebookthere are dozens of accounts, hundreds of publications and several communities propaganda of this armed group.
“I want to join,” comments a young woman in a video set to music with a Mexican corrido. “Privately,” responds the user TikTok identified as “.revolutionary_”.
The same profile has more than a dozen similar interactions. “I served in the military (…) and now I would like to pick up a rifle again,” commented a man in a publication where uniformed men are seen training in a foggy forest.
NETWORKS
There is a network of profiles associated with EMC in Cauca that follow each other and, sometimes, replicate videos created by sister accounts.
With thousands of followers, they use images of uniformed men on horses or crossing rivers in boats, accompanied by motivational texts and revolutionaries.
The use of emojis reveals a common language. The illustration of a green leaf refers to drug crops, accompanied by videos and photos of large expanses of coca bushes.
Also the emojis of Colombian flags, colored hearts and the covered face of a ninja are repeated in the publications.
Unlike traditional FARC propaganda, the videos in TikTok of the EMC have “a much more refined aesthetic proposal” and focused on a young audience, says an expert from the Center for Media Analysis (CARISM).
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2024-04-06 12:13:26