‘They think we’re terrorists’: Colombia’s female former guerilla fighters find no peace
In a Colombian reintegration camp for former guerrilla fighters, María Rosalba García de Sepúlveda sits beneath a parrot wind chime next to her green and orange shack. Wearing leaf-pattern trousers and eating jam biscuits, she couldn’t be less threatening if she tried. But she feels her life is at risk. “You fear for your security at all times,” the 68-year-old says.
For 43 years Sepúlveda was part of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc – a leftwing guerrilla group founded by farmers that spent five decades fighting the government.
After joining at 18 to escape rural poverty, she rose to become one of the few female commanders, known by her war name “Eliana”. Then, in 2016, a peace deal led her and 13,000 others to demobilise, and she moved to the Pondores reincorporation zone near the Venezuelan border.
Down a dirt track and guarded by soldiers with assault rifles, the camp in La Guajira, northern Colombia, feels like a prison at first. But the 400 or so residents, including 135 former guerrillas and their families, have done their best to make it their own.
The plywood-walled, metal-roofed homes are painted bright colours and small gardens are filled with flowers, dogs and toys. Anti-war murals are everywhere, like the building painted with doves and huge letters: “PAZ”.
Yet beyond the symbols of hope lies discontent. The government promised reintegration camps would be places of safety and opportunity to help battle-hardened former fighters settle back into society. When she first moved here, Sepúlveda saw positives: she resumed the high school studies she never had a chance to complete and moved in with another female ex-guerrilla, whose son affectionately calls her “abuelita” – granny.
But jobs are scant and healthcare provision patchy. “Life here is hard,” says Sepúlveda. “People get sick and the houses are very, very small.” When it rains, water pours through the cracks of the shacks that residents were told would be temporary, and the paths become rivers of sewage and mud. The electricity goes out for 24 hours at a time and the toilets don’t flush. “We were supposed to be here for six months and then be given decent housing,” Sepúlveda says.
As well as frustration, there is fear. When it was signed in Havana, Cuba, six years ago, the peace deal guaranteed the former combatants’ safety. But political violence has risen in Colombia in the last two years, with ex-Farc fighters at heightened risk. Since 2016, 342 have been assassinated, including 11 in July alone – the deadliest month since 2019.