Rodrigo Londono

BOGOTÁ, Colombia - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are changing into, well, the FARC; the rebels are completing their transition from an armed insurgent group to a political party known as the Alternative Revolutionary Force of the Community.

Colombia's FARC former guerrilla group has re-launched itself as the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, sealing its transformation into a leftist political party following its disarmament after a half-century civil conflict.

Colombia's FARC rebel group said on June 7 that it has handed in 30 percent of its weaponry to the United Nations, part of a peace deal signed with the government last year to end more than 52 years of war.

A new peace accord between Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels will be signed on Nov. 24 and sent to Congress for approval, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Nov. 22, bringing a formal end to the 52-year civil war ever closer. 

The Colombian government and Marxist guerrillas went back to the drawing board on Oct. 4 after a peace deal they painstakingly negotiated over four years was rejected in a shock referendum result. 

In a vote that confounded opinion polls and was a disaster for Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombians narrowly rebuffed the pact on Oct. 2 as too lenient on the rebels. 

After a half-century of combat that spilled blood across this South American nation, Colombians have embarked on a new, but difficult path to settle their political differences with the signing of a historic peace accord between the government and leftist rebels.