Former Colombian guerrillas face hardships re-entering society

January 28, 2013|Reuters

By Manuela Badawy

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - As the decades-long guerrilla
war in Colombia winds down, the biggest task facing the
government is to reintegrate the fighters to society, Alejandro
Eder, director of the Colombian Agency for Reintegration, said
on Monday.

The main obstacle facing Colombia's former guerrillas and
paramilitaries in becoming productive members of civil society
is stigmatization by the public and a lack of job opportunities,
he said.

"It's a national priority to give these people who want to
change their lives a chance, most of them displaced by warfare
and kidnapped, many as children, by the guerrillas themselves,"
Eder, told Reuters in New York before meetings with USAID.

Talks to try to end Latin America's longest-running
insurgency began in Cuba in November, when the government and
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC,

Of the 55,000 combatants that have left the guerillas in the
Andean country over the past decade, about 10,000 have yet to
surrender their arms after about 50 years of armed conflict with
government forces, Eder said.

The Colombian government spends $90 million a year to
transition the combatants, who have an average age of 26 to
civil society. The government has a seven-year program that
entails transporting the guerillas from their jungle camps,
reuniting them with their families, and training them for a

Colombia's government spends around $3,500 per person per
year to reinstate the fighters in society, which is less costly
than fighting the insurgents or incarcerating them and has a
lower rate of recidivism, according to Eder.

"The biggest challenge is for society to give a chance to
those who gave up their arms," Eder said, adding that there is a
high degree of mistrust of the guerrillas among most Colombians.

Companies that hire former combatants can claim a tax credit
of around $340 per person, but the suspicion and the stigma
attached to employing them can outweigh the financial

"Forgiveness is essential," said Eder, who added that about
three or four guerrillas give up their arms every day and it was
essential that Colombian society allow them the opportunity for
a different life.

(Reporting by Manuela Badawy; editing by Christopher Wilson)