Legitimising violence and its context: Textual analysis of the FARC-EP discourse

The FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Peoples Army) was analysed over a five-year period. The results reveal the existence of two clearly differentiated discourse moments that are associated with changes produced in the political context, specifically in the relations between this group and the Columbian government. However, the results of the present analysis show that any discourse changes are merely for strategic reasons, as in both periods, even though they adopt different rhetorical formulas, we find that the same arguments are used to legitimize the existence of this armed group. © 2006, Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.