REVISTA SEMANA

REVISTA
SEMANA
JULY 3RD-10TH
Erika, 13
Front 35 FARC
INFAMY
Documents and photos found in FARC
computers show that the guerrillas have
no limits in their abuse of Colombian girls.
Source: Revista Semana (Colombian Weekly magazine) Date: July 3rd-10th ISSUE: 1261
INFAMY
Documents and photos found in FARC
computers show that the guerrillas have
no limits in their abuse of Colombian girls.
Adriana was 16 years old when she felt a cramp in
her belly. Blood began to gush from between her
legs, and kept coming for a long while. The pain was
intense and only lessened when she saw, in a bucket,
something that looked like a baby. The Cytotec pills
she had been given that morning led to the abortion
ordered by the commanders of the Fifth Front of the
FARC. Four months earlier, she had become
pregnant, against the rules that prohibit maternity.
Now that her body had pushed out the small fetus,
she was trapped between two fears: fear of dying
because her placenta was still inside and could
become infected, and fear of facing the punishment
already announced by her leaders. As soon as she
recovered she would have to follow through with
her punishment. She would have to plant four
hectares of corn in the La Esmeralda region, near the
San Jorge River.
The days that followed were no better.
Her
comrades in arms took her to the hospital in Ituango,
in Antioquia, where she was left completely alone.
The doctors cleaned out her uterus, but her recovery
was not complete. She was emaciated, weak, and
thinner than ever when she received the order to
rejoin the Fifth Front. The Army had begun an
operative in the zone and the guerrilla commanders
had ordered their troops including her to retreat
toward the mountains. Adriana, still convalescent,
had no other alternative than to walk for two
months, moving with the rest of the troops to Sinú,
in Córdoba. During the march, she continued to
bleed.
This story is repeated in all the guerrilla fronts and by
the hundreds. The dimensions of the tragedy can be
verified by the 58th Front of the FARC, where there
are close to 35 minors that are 16 years old. Two
computers that are in the hands of the Office of the
Tania, 14
District Attorney, confiscated from FARC leaders after
combats on the coast and in Antioquia, demonstrate
not only a very high rate for recruiting minors, but
also their subjection to cruel treatment. This is a
crime against humanity that is not new in Colombia,
but that the armed groups minimize with cynicism.
The worst of it is felt by the girls, who are in many
ways scarred relative to their sexuality. In the
computers the leaders themselves narrate the
punishments dealt out to the young women. There
are dozens of files for minors, with detailed notes on
their histories prior to and after joining the guerrillas.
Without any attempt at cover-up, they make note of
the mocking to which they are subjected. For losing
a hat, a 16 year old girl was forced to go to the
mountain and bring 150 loads of firewood back on
her shoulders. Another was tied up for two days for
stealing sugar and milk. For lying, a young girl had to
carry twenty loads of firewood, 20 bags of sand, and
dig 15 meters of trenches. Another girl, 14 years old,
was harshly punished because she was afraid to stand
guard. As if the hostile and dark mountains, and the
horror of war, were not sufficient torment for a child's
mind. The punishments also include carrying axes on
long marches, shining pots and pans, or walking
around unarmed. They are also subjected, along
with all adult guerrillas, to public ridicule during war
councils. Everything that is normal for an adolescent,
within the guerrilla ranks is a crime that is severely
punished.
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Source: Revista Semana (Colombian Weekly magazine) Date: July 3rd-10th ISSUE: 1261
There is information on young women in the
dreadful files who have been shot “for
demoralization.” The tracks of others are followed
after they desert, and even some cases of suicide are
described. The databases contain information on
the families of the girls, their place of residence and
their activities. This is to remind them, if they desert,
that their loved ones will be implacably persecuted.
Sexual activity is a critical issue. Activity begins at a
very early age. There is promiscuity, and abuse by
the commanders who want the youngest as their
sexual companions. The girls end up being the
property of the guerrillas, as suggested in a recent
document on violence and gender by researchers at
the Universidad de los Andes, Mauricio Rubio and
María Victoria Llorente.
Adriana's life is a sad example of this situation of
constant violence. She entered the FARC at the age
of 14. After three months she already had a
“husband” 30 years her senior, who died just three
months later as the result of a battle. Then she had a
fling with a young man who ended up with a
venereal disease. Adriana was accused of having
transmitted it to him, and was even pointed to by her
comrades as an enemy “infiltrator.” She escaped
being brought before a judge, but she was punished
with five loads of firewood daily for three months.
At the end of that time, when her superiors believed
her to be reformed, they added her file to the
computer, meaning that she was formally on the
FARC payroll. A short while ago she had begun a
relationship with 'Richard', a man about 50 years old
who was in charge of a company of some 54
guerrillas. From then on, she became his 'woman',
had the right to a better weapon a M16 rifle and a
life with less sacrifices than those of the other
women. Although she went into battle, she was
never on the frontline, and she did not have to carry a
backpack, since 'Richard' always had a pack mule. Of
course, she was obligated to receive a contraceptive
injection each month, until military operations
blocked the arrival of the contraceptive, and then
came her pregnancy and the abortion.
Argenis, 14
Why is there no decrease in the recruiting
of boys and girls?
In Slaughterhouse Five, a book that is an icon for
North Americans, Kurt Vonnegut describes the
soldiers who were in the Second World War as
children whose uniforms were too big and whose
giant canteens dragged on the ground. “We had
forgotten that wars were fought by babies,” he says.
For children, war is no more than a game, and is even
attractive. “They do not yet know of killing or dying,”
says Polish reporter Ryzard Kapuszinsky when he
explains why modern wars, with irregular armies
where children are on the front line, are more
fratricidal. As guerrillas, they are more docile,
friendly, and lovers of competition and adventure.
They know no limits, and they have not completely
developed their individual conscience. The guerrilla
commanders see them as perfect soldiers and that is
why they use them as cannon fodder. And the world
looks dumbly on the spectacle without being able to
do practically anything about it.
Three years ago Human Rights Watch presented the
report, “You'll Learn Not to Cry,” with dramatic
stories of child guerrillas and child paramilitary
members in Colombia. At that time, that organization
estimated that there were 11,000 minors involved in
the conflict. According to the report “at least one in
four irregular combatants in the Colombian civil war is
under 18 years of age. Those children, the majority
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Source: Revista Semana (Colombian Weekly magazine) Date: July 3rd-10th ISSUE: 1261
from poor families, fight an adult war...the adults
order the children to kill, mutilate, and torture,
preparing them to commit the most cruel
abuses...the children who fail in their military duties
or try to desert are exposed to a summary execution
by their comrades who are sometimes younger than
they.”
Except for the minors who demobilized with the self
defense groups where official numbers were less
than the reality, according to the Office of the
Inspector General there is no evidence of the
situation having changed. On the contrary, as the
government's offensive has intensified, the guerrillas
require more combatants, and, in consequence,
recruiting of minors has remained constant across
almost the entire country. The critical zones are
Caquetá, Huila, Meta, and Antioquia. The casualties
in combat and the figures on desertion have
confirmed that children have been functioning in
recent years as a type of protective curtain around
the more experienced combatants and leaders. The
guerrillas who die tend to be the youngest and least
experienced.
“The irregular forces exploit the vulnerability of
children. They organize recruiting campaigns where
they present attractive aspects of the guerrilla life,
and tempt them with promises of money and a more
promising future...” warns Human Rights Watch. For
many, the armed group is a mirage of well being that
lasts for but a short time. They join because work in
the countryside is hard, such as in the case of
children who harvest coca, for example. Or because
they are looking for the recognition and power that
come from carrying a weapon. At that age, when
sexual identity is being developed, a weapon is
much more than something to fire. “For the young
soldiers who form new armies, a weapon is not an
object that should be respected and that should be
handled using correct behavior. In reality, they
perceive only its explicitly phallic dimension," says
Michael Ignatieff in his book, “The Warrior's Honor”.
For a 15 year old woman or man, the uniform and the
weapon are instruments of conquest, and that is not
irrelevant at that stage of life.
But what the children cannot see when they decide
to join the guerrillas is that they are on a road with no
Verónica, 15
return. Many remain there practically as slaves, and
in the case of the girls, sex slaves.
The guerrillas have not seriously adopted any code
that might allow them to change their attitude
relative to recruiting minors, or relative to how they
treat them in their ranks. For the insurgent groups,
boys and girls are mere instruments for their pseudorevolutionary ends.
The key to prevention
The FARC, the AUC, and the ELN have always
demonstrated a tremendous disdain for the basic
concepts of international humanitarian law or for any
code of honor in war. That is why putting a brake on
this tragedy of recruiting minors cannot depend on
an appeal to their good faith. It is the government
that must make decisive efforts so that rural children
might have other options than war.
A research effort undertaken by the CEDE (Center for
Studies on Economic Development) at the
“Universidad de los Andes” and by National Planning
last year demonstrated that many rural children who
get involved with the conflict have suffered greatly in
their homes, whether due to abuse or abandonment.
They have no opportunities and no hope. It is typical
for opportunities to start to dry up for them once they
finish elementary school, or in the first years of high
school. In the middle of this desert, the guerrillas
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Source: Revista Semana (Colombian Weekly magazine) Date: July 3rd-10th ISSUE: 1261
appear to be not only the best option, but the only
option. A high percentage of peasant children who
join the guerrillas have family members who are
guerrillas, or they have lived side by side with the
armed groups all of their lives.
That is what happened, for example, with Tatiana,
who until a short time ago was a guerrilla with the
58th Front of the FARC. When she was 11 years old,
her mother was assassinated in Dabeiba, Antioquia.
After that, her home broke apart, her father
abandoned her, and she grew up, with her
grandparents, in the midst of immense financial
difficulties. At 15 years of age she had graduated
with honors from ninth grade at the school in the
village where she lived. To finish her schooling,
which was her dream, she would have to move to
the main town of the municipality. There was no
hope. They barely had enough money to eat. She
didn't have to think long before she decided to join
the first guerrilla commission that passed by the
farm. A few weeks later she was carrying a
reinforced AK-47 rifle over her shoulder. With
discipline she put up with the tiring hikes and the
work of carrying loads and digging holes. Very soon
she was fighting on the front line. A few months
after joining the guerrillas she found out the
Bolivarian militias had killed her mother. Even so,
she stayed. It was hard for her to believe that the
world, far from the war, could be better.
Nevertheless, she deserted. After that, she was able
to reinitiate her schooling and begin her life again.
The paradox is that she had to go to war, and then
come back, for the government to give her a hand.
As a demobilized guerrilla she has had opportunities
that she never would have had as a simple peasant
girl.
In a recent report, the Inspector General, Edgardo
Maya, stated that the government has a double
duty: “To not recruit minors to its ranks, and to
guarantee that boys and girls are not recruited by
illegal armed groups.” Many studies have shown
that two things are crucial for avoiding recruitment:
staying in school, and a relationship of love and trust
in the family, especially with the mother. That is
where the government's efforts should be oriented,
if it wants to stop this tragedy.
Milena, 13
Beatriz Londoño, Director of the Family Welfare
Institute, believes that the solution is in the medium
and long run. “We are seeing that the most
intelligent thing to do is to make a strong investment
in early childhood. In education, in physical and
emotional well being, to discredit the collective
imaginary of violence,” she says. Is that investment
being made? The FARC computers demonstrate that
those efforts, if they are indeed being made, have not
been successful, and each day there are more
children joining the armed groups. As long as rural
children have no other opportunity than the
guerrillas, they will go to them, and then, forcefully
turned into adults, they will seek their own exit in the
midst of huge risks. In practice, there are greater
incentives to join the guerrillas and later desert, than
to stay in the village.
An example is Adriana, who five years after her
forced abortion, in a surge of bravery, showed up at
an Army brigade. At 20 years of age, and with a
newborn child, she decided to desert after she found
out that 'Richard', who was both her protector and her
keeper, had died in combat. At that point, with a
mixture of sorrow and desire for freedom, she
abandoned the ranks. Last Wednesday, when she
reached the military base, her hair full of colored
braids illuminated her hardened face. Her wide
shoulders betrayed her hard life in the mountains.
“The life I have had, I wouldn't wish on anyone,” she
told SEMANA. Behind her remained the war where
she lost her innocence.
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