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WORLD NEWSThursday 9 March 2017
Colombian rebels exchange rifles for rattles amid baby boom
ALBA TOBELLA “It wasn’t seen as viable peace.” The exact number of verse except in all-terrain
Associated Press for us to have children, “I think in some ways these forced abortions is un- vehicles.
LA CARMELITA, Colombia because why is someone children symbolize the known, though it is likely in In Bogota, Diana Rodriguez
(AP) — Amid the makeshift going to have them when hope of a country that the hundreds. Colombia’s and a group of wealthy
tents and communal kitch- there are bullets flying needs peace and reconcil- chief prosecutor said in young women moved by
ens where Colombia’s larg- around?” said Jerly Suarez, iation,” said Carlos Antonio 2015 his office had docu- the tales of guerrilla moms
est rebel army is preparing struggling to provide for
to lay down its weapons, a FARC rebel couple Jerly Suarez, left, and Vicente Pulecio walk to a cooking class with their their children got together
new sound is emerging: the 9-month-old son Dainer at a rebel camp in a demobilization zone in La Carmelita, in Colombia’s to send backpacks filled
cries of babies. southwestern Putumayo state. “It wasn’t seen as viable for us to have children, because why is with basic products for
Playpens and strollers rest someone going to have them when there are bullets flying around?” said Suarez, referring to newborns like soap, diapers
on the bare dirt ground the loosening of rules on baring children after the rebel group and the government reached an and moisturizing creams.
next to assault rifles. Young agreement to end their armed conflict. “If being a new mom is dif-
mothers change diapers ficult for me, imagine what
while their guerrilla com- (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) it’s like for these women,”
rades carry wood planks said Rodriguez, who gave
across fields of mud. Fa- 29. She gave birth shortly Lozada, a member of the mented more than 150 birth to her daughter three
thers still dressed in fatigues before the FARC began its FARC’s ruling secretariat forced abortions, which he months ago. “If we want to
shake rattles and lift their march to one of the 26 de- who is awaiting a child of identified as “a policy of build peace, we have to
giggling infants playfully mobilization zones. his own with a fellow com- the FARC.” all contribute in one way or
into the air. Among the 7,000 guerrillas batant. Within the rebel ranks, ma- another.”
For decades, the Revo- gathered at the demobi- During times of war, FARC ternity was always a hot Some of the guerrilla
lutionary Armed Forces lization zones across the guerrillas trekked for miles topic of discussion. mothers are giving birth in
of Colombia kept such country, 114 women are through jungle terrain, of- “Everyone wanted to have camps, but most at nearby
strict control over its fight- pregnant and 77 babies ten carrying heavy loads. their children,” said Tobias hospitals. In La Carmelita,
ers’ reproductive rights have been born recently, Constant confrontation Diaz, a guerrilla-trained where 500 guerrillas are ex-
that female guerrillas who according to the govern- with government soldiers medic with the FARC’s pected to hand over their
became pregnant were ment. Dozens of other old- and endless guard duties in southern bloc. weapons by June 1, wom-
forced to leave newborns er children who had been jungle camps made raising Conditions in the demo- en speak of both the ar-
with relatives or even abort. left with relatives during the children during the conflict bilization zones are none- duous conditions in which
The practice flew in the conflict have also arrived. difficult, if not impossible. theless challenging: Even they have begun their new
face of the rebels’ claim That has injected a sense of Women were given steady in La Carmelita, one of lives as mothers and their
that by enrolling female optimism into camps where supplies of contraceptives, the more built-up camps, hopes for raising children in
warriors they were freeing war-hardened rebels are and those who did get rebels sleep under plastic a time of peace.
women from traditional beginning their transition to pregnant were presented tarps. There are no proper Suarez recalled how her
gender roles that restricted civilian life. with two options: leave the showers or clinics and a young son, Dainer, hot
their choices, and it an- Many are referring to the baby with the family mem- road to the main highway and hungry, cried through-
gered many in this devoutly babies as the “children of bers or end the pregnancy. is so muddy it is hard to tra- out the long march to the
Roman Catholic country. demobilization zone. Reb-
But in the last year, as the el mothers carried their
FARC and government weapon on one shoulder,
reached an agreement to their baby on the other.
end Latin America’s lon- Marlin Velazquez remem-
gest-running armed con- bers following the peace
flict, those stringent battle- dialogues for four years
field rules have loosened. as a sort of countdown to
The result is a veritable baby motherhood.
boom, which has struck a “Being a guerrilla and hav-
chord even among urban ing the desire to have a
Colombians far removed child, you say, ‘When will
from the conflict, a few the conflict end, so that
of whom have mobilized I can create my home,
to transport diapers and have my children?” said
creams to the new moth- Velazquez, 20, who gave
ers after seeing images of birth in February. “What
sweltering infants on cots in do you want and what are
the rural encampments. your plans for the future?”q
