COLOMBIA’S communist army the Farc relaunched itself as a political party yesterday at a concert for “reconciliation and peace” in Bolivar Square, Bogota.

The guerilla movement that has been fighting one of the longest civil wars in history confirmed its new name at the close of its congress on Thursday — the Revolutionary Alternative Forces of the Commons, which will allow it to retain the Farc acronym derived from its original name, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

It was formed in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party after rural communist strongholds came under attack by the military.