At the height of its power, Colombia’s Farc was the most powerful guerrilla army in Latin America. Now former fighters are struggling to adapt to civilian life

'There's nothing for us': Farc rebels search for purpose a year after historic deal

Until recently, Sofía, a slight, unassuming 22-year-old, was a member of Latin America’s most powerful guerrilla army: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

At the height of its powers, the group mounted devastating ambushes on government soldiers, kidnapped thousands of ordinary civilians and shifted shipments of drugs worth millions.

But today, after a peace deal signed one year ago, Sofía now lives in a demobilisation camp in Mesetas, where the edges of Colombia’s dense southern jungle meet the country’s rolling eastern plains.

Like many former fighters, she is struggling to fill her empty days, and increasingly anxious that the government has abandoned them now they have laid down their rifles.



“Where do I begin? The government hasn’t kept up so many of its promises,” said Sofía, who has spent over half of her life with the guerrillas. “It makes me wonder if we made a mistake handing in our weapons.”

The peace deal formally ended 52 years of bitter war that left 220,000 dead and more than 7 million displaced. But while they are hopeful the accord will help rebuild the country, many disarmed rebels are worried about the glacial pace of its implementation.

More than half of the 500 rebels that moved to the camp in January have since left. Though they are now free to move around the country, the idea was that they would stay and work with the Farc’s new political party.

Some are suspected of joining dissident factions that have refused to disarm, though Sofía maintains that is not an option for her. “I have left all that behind,” she said. But many in the camp share her view that the government has little incentive to comply with outstanding aspects of the deal now the rebels have laid down their weapons.

A common complaint in Mesetas is that the camp, where the rebels were obliged to remain until their weapons were handed over in September, was not fit for purpose until after the deadline. While all are now housed in self-built homes – with the materials provided by the government – two months ago many were living in makeshift tarpaulin tents that would reach unbearable temperatures.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Mariana Páez demobilization zone, one of many rural camps where Farc fighters are making their transition to civilian life. Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP

“Imagine the heat, and then the mud and the rain,” said Jenny, a former fighter, as she waited in line to sign documents that would excuse her crimes of rebellion and sedition.

Others complain that land on which to farm has not been handed over, and that the paperwork required to receive Colombian identification cards has still not arrived.

For now, they sit around, talking to their families via Whatsapp and Facebook – social media tools they did not know existed until recently. A number have taken up smoking to pass the time.

“There’s nothing for us to do,” said Jenny. “During wartime we lived hard but we had everything we needed. Here it’s very tough.”

It makes me wonder if we made a mistake handing in our weapons Sofía, former Farc fighter

The peace accord was reached after three years of tense talks in Havana, Cuba, and includes components aimed at tackling root causes of the conflict, such as land distribution and political participation.

Initially it failed to pass a referendum in October last year, with many voters unhappy with the deal’s promises of blanket amnesty for rebellion, and unelected seats in congress. The deal was amended and passed through congress a month later, though retaining its most contentious parts.

Many of the Farc’s leadership stand accused of human rights abuses and war crimes that will be tried in special transitional courts, and a broader perception of the rebels as drug traffickers and terrorists persists.

That same mistrust has caused some – including President Juan Manuel Santos – to cast doubt on the Farc’s current complaints.

“The Farc’s leadership is playing politics,” said Santos in a meeting with journalists earlier this month.



“For example, we deliver some construction materials ahead of the agreed time, and they refuse to accept them, claiming they are the wrong size,” the Nobel peace prize winner said. “Their strategy is to say we are not fulfilling our side of the deal.”

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Analysts note that while the peace process has taken on a stuttering pace, it has been successful in many respects.

“In one important sense it has gone very well,” said Ariel Ávila, the director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, a Bogotá-based thinktank. “The Farc no longer exist, and just one year after the deal was signed we are seeing fewer kidnappings, fewer landmine victims, fewer murders.”

According to one study, by another group, the Resource Centre for Conflict Analysis, the deal may already have prevented about 2,800 deaths.

And despite the malaise, some Farc members in Mesetas are enjoying the prospect of civilian life. There is a growing number of new mothers around the camp, after Farc rules forbidding pregnancy during wartime were lifted.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Farc rebel couple Jerly Suárez, right, and Vicente Pulecio eat lunch with their nine-month-old son within a demobilisation zone in Putumayo state. Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP

Other rebels are excited to start business ventures, albeit with roots in their Marxist background.

Einer López, a senior Farc member at the Mesetas demobilisation camp, is directing his team as build a hotel they plan to open to adventurous tourists keen to “live the guerrilla life”.

“We are now reincorporating so we want to show people our way of life.”