Former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commanders have for the first time in Colombian history freely admitted the armed group’s role in recruiting more than 18,677 children during five decades of their armed conflict with the state.

In a five-page document signed by Rodrigo Londoño, alias ‘Timochenko’, and five other demobilized senior leaders, the former fighters recognized their role in forcing minors into a life under arms.

Colombia’s peace court, known as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), had previously determined that the six defendants, all former members of the FARC secretariat, carried responsibility for the crimes of recruitment of minors under 15 years of age, mistreatment torture and murder of children, sexual and reproductive violence, and prejudice against minors with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities.

See also: Peace plan has caused more conflict, says thinktank.

In the letter to the court the six defendants admitted the acts and asked for forgiveness.

“There are no words to repair these deeds,” said Londoño in a televised address widely circulated this week. “Today with honesty and clarity we recognize our role.”

“We ask forgiveness from direct and indirect victims, and from society in general.”

Londoño, who was the FARC’s last field commander up until the peace signing, said he recognized that the rebel’s actions had “stolen childhoods” as young combatants faced constant fear and death.

Historical whitewashing

Londoño also acknowledged that “the homicides, forced abortions, acts of gender-based violence, and reproductive violence caused serious physical and psychological damage that still persists”.

The statement was a milestone in Case 07 of Colombia’s JEP, the special court charged with untangling crimes committed by all sides during the state conflict with the FARC.

Case 07 was opened in 2019 and has since officially recognized 18,677 victims, of which 54 per cent are children themselves recruited, and 46 per cent families who lost children to the conflict.

Other actors in Colombia’s armed conflict have used minors as well. According to Crisis Group, “right-wing paramilitary groups” counted some 2,800 children within their ranks when they demobilized in the mid-2000s.

Historically the FARC whitewashed their role in the recruitment of minors, and during the 2016 peace process vigorously denied accusations of abducting children or threatening families to hand over their children.

According to the FARC’s own narrative, many young recruits joining the Marxist guerrilla group were “volunteers escaping poverty”. The leadership traditionally downplayed reports of sexual abuse, forced abortions and the murders and disappearances of children as political propaganda.

As recently as 2015, FARC commanders were claiming that the armed group “under no circumstance recruited children, or anyone else, forcefully,” according to a Human Rights Watch report critical of the guerrilla’s position.

Never coming home

HRW’s own investigations had identified victims as young as 12 who were tied up by the guerrillas and threatened to be killed if they tried to resist. In other cases, kids were tricked with offers of presents or cash before being forced to fight under arms.

The report also cited cases of older commanders abusing girls as young as 12 in some incidents forcing them to use contraception or to have abortions.

According to JEP data presented under Case 07, child victims were present in the FARC ranks across 16 departments of Colombia, almost the whole territory controlled by the guerrilla group at its peak. Recruitment peaked between 1999 and 2013 but continued to 2016, the year of the peace accord between the rebels and the state.

Accredited to the case were 2,000 individual victims recruited as children but now adults, the JEP announced this week.

Also part of the group were families of 485 children recruited into the ranks who “never returned home”. The JEP had joined with the UPBD (Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas dadas por Desaparecidas) missing persons unit to try and locate the remains of those missing persons.

Details from Case 07 also highlighted the large numbers of minors taken from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, with 9,000 registered victims from six ethnic groups.

Restorative Justice

According to JEP proceedures, FARC leaders’ statements this week were an important step forward in the restorative justice process. The special peace court works with a system of dialogues between accused perpetrators and victims.

Information released by the court this week defined Case 07 as still in the dialogue phase with both private and public audiences were expected in the future where victims would given the opportunity to recount their experiences.

In line with previous cases, the former FARC leaders, could chose to respond to the crimes in front of the victims. Any punishment could come in the form of an eight-year sentence of restricted liberties for the former FARC leaders, though not jail time.

As part of the sentence the JEP might recommend restorative programs – a form of social work – in agreements made with the victims.   

For its part, the former FARC secretariat announced its full support for this process. In a taped statement former commander Julián Galló also accepted his role in the crimes.

“Our compromise is to work in the future so that hopefully these cases don’t keep on occurring,” he said.

Circular problem

Repetition was already happening, according to a report published last month by Crisis Group called Kids on the Front Lines: Stopping Child Recruitment in Colombia. According to the Brussels-based think tank, the practice had “boomed in the last decade” even since the FARC demobilized under the peace process in 2016.

A new generation of armed groups still relied on minors to maintain territorial control, said the report, with 620 cases reported in 2024: “Children carry out high-risk tasks, suffer abuse, and are punished with death if caught escaping.”

Ruthless gangs were using social media posts to reel vulnerable youngsters into the conflict with false promises of wealth, status and protection, said Crisis Group. Families faced reprisals if they spoke out, the report added.

And with increased competition between fractionated armed groups, minors were being pushed to the front lines: “Kids now fight in high-risk combat roles.”

Colombia’s circular problem of child recruitment was highlighted this week by JEP magistrate Lily Rueda, presiding over Case 07, in conversation with El Espectador. The message from the peace courts was “more relevant then ever” after data from UNICEF showed that the recruitment of children in Colombia had increased by 300% in the last five years.

“This is an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to investigating and prosecuting these acts of violence against children, which constitute war crimes and are not subject to amnesty, not even in the context of peace agreements,” she said

“Victims who survived recruitment in the past should not be victimized again by the recruitment of their own sons and daughters in the present day.”

The post Former FARC chiefs ask forgiveness for forcing children into the guerrilla ranks appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Health authorities have activated over 200 free vaccination points across the city this week after two measles cases were reported.

The highly contagious virus, which is airborne and can cause serious health problems for young children, was detected in travelers from Mexico who had arrived in Bogotá and then fallen ill. Another imported case was found outside the capital.

In response the city’s District Health Secretariat said it had activated protocols to isolate the cases and had laboratories on hand to help with tracking any potential spread in the city.

Bogotá’s health secretary Gerson Bermont emphasized the need for a swift response: “Bogotá has all the infrastructure and human resources to provide technical support for diagnostic processes, he said. “The key is to act promptly to reduce local transmission.”

Measles was one of the most contagious viruses in existence and could be transmitted even by breathing, he warned. The best protection was with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, with two doses 97% effective at preventing the disease. The three people reported this week were unvaccinated.

In June last year U.S. embassies around the world took the unusual step of issuing a warning that measles was an “ongoing global risk” and advised citizens going abroad to get jabbed.

“Travelers can catch measles in many travel settings including travel hubs like airports and train stations, on public transportation like airplanes and trains, at tourist attractions, and at large, crowded events,” said the notice.

“Infected travelers can bring the disease back to their home communities where it can spread rapidly among people who are not immune.”

Good coverage

Recent data from the U.S. Centre for Disease Control (CDC) showed outbreaks in every region of the world with high caseloads in Mexico, Yemen, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Angola and Laos.

 The World Health Organization (WHO)  declared Colombia free of measles in 2014, after intensive campaigns across the country by vaccination teams brought MMR to remote corners of the country.

Measles vaccine coverage in the country was 93 per cent for the first dose, according to data on the WHO immunization dashboard, a reasonable result for a country with access challenges for health teams

Bogotá last saw cases in 2019, when 11 persons were affected by the disease, according to data from the city’s Observatorio de Salud.  

To avoid local spread from the imported cases this week, more than 200 vaccination points were activated across the city, with details in this link of locations and opening times. Most of the sites are in existing health facilities though all are welcome and the measles vaccine is free.

The city health authorities were offering free immunization with the triple MMR vaccines (measles, mumps and rubella) known in Colombia as SRP (sarampión, rubéola y paperas) or a double vaccine of SR (just measles and rubella). Any unvaccinated or partially vaccinate person between six months old and 60 years old was encouraged to get jabbed.

The risk to Colombia “could not be underestimated” Bermont told Blu Radio this week.

“It’s bad news what’s happening in the Americas,” he said. “Last year there were 15,000 measles cases across the region. Just in Mexico there were 32 deaths”.

Bermont said mass immunization was the best method to avoid an outbreak, but region had become vulnerable from anti-vax messaging by pressure groups that gained influence during the Covid-19 pandemia.  

“We have to also recognize that today there are also health authorities in the world that throw doubt on the effectiveness of the vaccine.”

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In the north of Bogotá, a new restaurant offers an experience that exists nowhere else in Latin America. 

Sombras, or ‘shadows’, is a high-end eatery run entirely by blind people, offering a unique experience that aims to raise awareness about sight loss and the challenges faced by those living with this condition.

For 90 minutes, diners are provided a sensory experience through a six-course menu while sitting in complete darkness

This project, part of the Seratta Group, costs approximately 325,000 COP (around US$88) and seats around 20 people at a time.

According to the DANE (National Administrative Department of Statistics), in 2025, the labor gap for people with disabilities was critical: roughly 80% of the population was unemployed. Of the 20% who are employed, many relied on informal work as a way of living.

Accordingly, Sombra’s primary goal is to increase job opportunities for people with visual impairment, even offering a ‘BLINDKEDIN’ on their website to promote inclusion in workspaces and bridge the gap between companies and workers.

Into the unknown

Entering the restaurant, guests are asked to place their belongings in lockers as one of the hosts voice announces, “The main ingredient is trust.” Cellphones, smartwatches, or any other distracting items are forbidden from being used in Sombras. Bags are stored as well, so as not to create obstacles as the staff move around the room unassisted. 

Right ahead is the path to darkness; the atmosphere is filled with fear, expectation, curiosity, and excitement. Not knowing what lies inside, guests must simply walk into the unknown.

Taking small steps, hands over the shoulders of a man simply identified as ‘Agent X,’ diners are shown to their seat. Finally, they are left alone at a table that can only be perceived through touch.

A mix of music, played by a blind DJ, is the perfect accompaniment to the dishes and cocktails placed down one by one. 

Each course is served while a voice guides the guests through the dark: “Take this, move your hand to the left.” 

Scenarios described over speakers guide guests through different worlds, prompting them to reflect on how they perceive the dark. Some courses are designed to evoke childhood memories; as diners eat, the flavors, aromas, and narrations conjure up images of their grandmother’s warm soup or the salty smell of seaside holidays. 

Without the visual cue of the food, flavors meld in novel ways, and everything tastes more intense.  

Between courses, a sense of emptiness can settle in. While the mind tries to imagine colors, dimensions, and even the appearance of fellow diners, the silence and darkness produce a feeling of loneliness and a sense of nothingness. Time passes, but without a watch, it is impossible to measure. 

One cycles through intense feelings and emotions as the brain fights to understand what is happening around it. Placed in the shoes of those who live in darkness every day, guests soon realize they can effortlessly perform the ritual of eating without opening their eyes.

Beyond sight

Following the experience, the hosts revealed themselves. 

John Jairo García and Jonathan Benavides (who is responsible for personalizing the ‘Agent X’ character) are in charge of guiding guests through the journey; both men are blind and were trained to lead visitors through an immersive experience of self-reflection, self-knowledge, and incredible food.

“I am here because God gave me the opportunity. Before this, I used to work on the streets… I sang on buses, and I was also an informal street vendor,” García told The Bogotá Post after the experience. Benavides added that before joining the team, he worked as an informal door-to-door salesman.

“We try not only to serve food but to move hearts and emotions. The social perspective in our country toward people with disabilities. In this case, visual impairment is very biased,” confirmed Jonathan during the interview.

At the end, the staff arrives with a message, they invite you to be thankful for seeing colors, for seeing the world that surrounds you. As some tears begin to fall, the last reflection is a call to empathy: “Change your way of thinking and your whole life will change”.

In fact, the blind dining experience at Sombras forces more than self-reflection; it triggers a biological change in the visitor. According to research hosted by the National Library of Medicine, the adult brain has a “rapid plasticity” that triggers almost immediately when vision is blocked. In the 90 minutes spent at Sombras, diners begin to perceive the world through their other senses, assigning “visual power” to taste and touch.

Through this experience, guests can truly empathize – if only for a brief moment – with what it means to lose vision. 

“We try to make the people who visit our restaurant understand that we, even with a disability, can also be useful to society,” concluded Jonathan.

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Urban art has many benefits, from the colour it adds to our streets to the space it gives for political and social expression. But a more tangible benefit could be seen at a recent art auction organised by Lure media and Galería Beta, where a number of works went under the hammer to raise money for charity.

Galería Beta’s Daniela Camero Rosso told us, “I believe that urban artists are always eager to help and you see that in the fact that they are always giving workshops, and of course in the fact that they are painting on the streets and that they want to get their message across to people without getting any money in return.”

Art from DJLU, Toxicómano, Juegasiempre, Erre and others was up for auction in front of an audience that included the great and the good of the city’s art world.

Daniela added, “These are amazing artists in the Colombian arts scene and the Latin American arts scene, and the fact that they were willing to help was another thing that made the auction beautiful.”

The aim of the auction was to raise money for Fundación Pescador de Letras, which works within a disadvantaged community in Cartagena offering education and social development programmes to 120 children aged 3-12.

Daniela said that the event had been a success, thanks to the Calle 93 venue and the great artists and galleries who made people want to go and support such a worthy cause. “Of course, they get a beautiful piece of art in return for their support, which is a win-win situation,” she said.

Events like this are also important, she added, because they help to change the perception of urban art in Colombia which – although still considered by some to be vandalism – ought to be valued as highly as other forms of art. 

The post Going, going, gone appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Colombian Pacific music is on the rise thanks to the growing popularity of the Petronio Álvarez Pacific Music Festival. The Bogotá Post spoke to musicians and industry professionals to find out why. 

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Hundreds of thousands are expected to attend this year’s Petronio Alvárez Pacific Music festival, a celebration of Colombian Pacific music which will take place in Cali from August 14 to 19.

We spoke to Diego Gómez, Llorona Records founder and producer, who is also a traditional Colombian music veteran, about the rise in popularity of Pacific sounds.

The post Is 2019 the start of a new era for Colombian Pacific folk music? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

The Bogotá Post visits rural communities in Colombia’s most forgotten corner and hears first-hand how armed groups continue to terrorise rural communities.

Sarah Lapidus

W

hen the Colombian government signed the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, many thought the conflict was over. But the FARC’s conversion from an armed group to a political party has left a power vacuum in rural areas where their guerrillas were once present.

Filling this gap are drug gangs, re-emerging guerrilla groups, and shadowy armed groups. And, as in the past, these fighters are now targeting civilians and small-scale farmers, often from both afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.

Those who speak out are most at risk. According to the Defensora del Pueblo, since the start of 2016, over 460 social leaders have been assassinated. 

So even as communities struggle to adapt to the post-conflict era, and preserve the memories of the victims from decades of state conflict with the FARC, new threats are on the rise.

Nowhere is this more apparent than Alto Guayabal, a village and Emberá Katío indigenous reserve set in the rainforest of Chocó, Colombia’s wildest and most westerly department.

“The conflict  has worsened. The ELN guerillas continue to commit crimes, assassinate and carry out kidnappings. Also, the paramilitaries, like the AGC, are stronger than ever. There has been little political effort, especially by our president, Iván Duque,” 22-year-old local activist Larry Mosquera tells The Bogotá Post during the second Festival de Memoria held in Alto Guayabal. 

The annual festival is organised by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP), a human rights nonprofit watchdog. The commission has also assisted the Embera community to create a humanitarian zone where – in theory – armed groups are banned. However, that ban is proving hard to enforce: in the weeks before our visit the indigenous community had reported gangs with guns terrorising villagers. 

But even with these recent threats, the Festival de Memoria goes ahead in Alto Guayabal, bringing together dozens of people from all sides of the conflict – ex-military, ex-FARC, and civilian victims – to share their stories.

A chance to speak out

Also present are delegates from Colombia’s Truth Commission, whose role is to listen and gather victim’s stories. It is part of the transitional justice agreement born from the FARC’s peace process with the state.

Danilo Rueda, the national coordinator of the CIJP, addresses attendees in the communal gathering hut: “The goal is for everyone to recount what they have experienced and what they feel, without accusing anyone,” he says. “This is about having a conversation, because we are convinced that through dialogue we can construct a different country. Words heal the soul.”

A Truth Commission delegate stands up to ask the group, “not to judge others, but simply to understand what is happening in society and how we were able to stop the war.” 

The conflict victims we talk to are grateful for the chance to tell their stories in front of the Truth Commission delegates, but they also worry that as they look back at the old conflict, a new one is emerging. For some it feels that the war never ended.  

“For us, there is no peace,” says Jorge Eliezer, sitting next to his partner in one of the communal huts. Armed men have threatened to kill him.

“They killed my cow, took our food, and fumigated our land,” he says. “And still, the government hasn’t kicked them out yet. They haven’t fulfilled their promise of land redistribution. The businesses are still there, and they look for intermediaries to enter [our territories] to rob us.” 

His story follows a narrative common in Colombia, according to human rights groups, whereby people with business and commercial interests use armed groups to threaten small-scale farming and indigenous communities, all part of a plan to force them to give up their land or sell it at a low price. 

In their effort to dislodge farmers from their properties, these gangs will escalate their threats to murder and massacres. Fear of these attacks can displace thousands of people and even whole communities. 

The CIJP has documented dozens of these types of threats and attacks. In fact the week following the Festival de Memoria, seven militia entered the community in a failed attempt to murder indigenous Embera community leader Bernado Zapilla. He was kidnapped and injured after being mistaken for another community member. They were thought to be members of the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), one of the powerful armed groups that has grown since the peace deal was signed.  

Keep pushing for peace

Meanwhile, victims displaced by previous waves of violence are still waiting for financial reparation and restitution of land previously stolen. 

Many barriers still exist to getting back to their land, explains 16-year-old Diomedes Daveiba: “We want to return to where we were living before, but we can’t return. There are too many mines. We want them to clean up the mines on the roads, but there is no effort by the government.”

Meanwhile in the midst of continued conflict, communities like Alto Guayabla keep pushing for peace, explains El Espectador columnist Laura Mendoza, also taking part.

“In Colombia we talk about constructing peace. This event is constructing peace. None of us work alone in supporting the process, in raising awareness. There is a lot of work being done despite the continuous violence,” she explains. 

It’s a theme taken up by Larry Mosquera. Despite the continued violence, assassinations and fear in the community, he underlines the need to keep going. 

“The situation is very sad, but in the rural communities we continue to resist and fight for true and sustainable peace.”

The post Post-conflict: No peace in the Chocó appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Bogotá Art District: A taste of some of the visual delights on offer in San Felipe.

Emily Hastings

There’s been a mini art revolution brewing in San Felipe for some years now. With 16 galleries in what’s become known as the Bogotá Art District, or BAD, the small zone has become a hub of creativity.

It’s not quite the Soho of Bogotá – or Boho as it should probably be called – but the creative community is already a firm fixture on the city’s art landscape. Indeed, San Felipe is one of the three districts to be included in the ARTBO weekend circuits.

What takes me there on a rainy Saturday is ‘Experimenta el Arte’, an event organised by Lure media (the team behind the comprehensive Living in Bogota guide). Lure’s boss, Boris Kruijssen tells me, “After we received several requests, we decided to move into organising experiences – we want to help people to uncover some of the city’s hidden secrets.”

The walking tour began at Galería Beta, which is run by Daniela Camero Rosso. She gives us a potted history of San Felipe, and explains that the man behind the area’s artistic development is architect and patron of many Colombian artists, Alejandro Castaño.

“This collector succeeded in getting various of us to move into the barrio, and then the other galleries started to come in a natural way,” she explained.

We were lucky enough to visit Castaño’s private collection – an Aladdin’s cave with practically every inch of wall (and indeed floor and parts of the ceiling) crammed with the work of artists from all over the continent. Camero told us that Castaño has supported a number of Colombian artists from their early days and continues to do so, a passion that shines through in the sheer volume of art. From videos in cubby holes to a dragonfly that flickers to life; chanting miniature crowds brought alive through a vinyl record to paper guns carved into the pages of a book; at every step and every turn there’s something else to catch your eye.

The two floors of Camero’s Beta gallery reflect the two sections of their collection. “One of modern art,” Camero enthuses. “That branch is focussed on contemporary art, particularly abstract and conceptual art.” We see this downstairs in Diego Mendoza’s woodblock prints showing an upside-down world of trees and machinery.

Upstairs, we are transported to the colours of La Candelaria with the familiar styles of well-known graffiti artists like CRISP and DJ Lu. Awash with colour, the urban art branch of the gallery opened two years ago. Camero says, “Our goal is to promote art more in open spaces, not only in closed ones.” That’s why they have done 15-20 interventions, when art takes over a public space as a sort of pop-up gallery area, within the neighbourhood.

The SGR gallery is a different beast entirely. We are greeted by a mess of melted wax chairs in front of a static screen – mirrored on the other side of the room by rows of pristine chairs lined up in front of a screen showing a chair. A symbol for nations of couch potatoes melting into images of themselves?

The galleries are not the only interesting thing about San Felipe. If you haven’t yet discovered Chichería Demente, an open plan restaurant that opened a few months ago, you are in for a treat. I’d go back time and again for their zucchini fries and palmitos frescos alone.

If the fries can’t tempt you, San Felipe is simply a must for anyone who wants to get a better feel for contemporary Colombian art.

Check it out:

Galleries of San Felipe: FLORA ars + natura, SKETCH, Instituto de vision, Liberia, Casa 4, 12:00, Galería Beta, Permanente, Rincón Projects, Estudio 74, Casa Valhalla, SGR, Espacio KB, Estudio 101, Plural, Fundación Arkhé.

 

If you are thinking about checking out the big BAD art district, Camero recommends the noches de San Felipe (@nochesanfelipe). Every two months, all of the galleries open their doors between 7pm-10pm.

Lure will also organising activities in San Felipe from June onwards. Contact them on info@luremediagroup.co or instagram @lurecityguide to find out more.

The post Not half BAD appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

During the last six years e-commerce in Colombia has increased remarkably.

According to a study published by the Colombian Chamber of E-Commerce, approximately 82% of the Colombian population over the age of 15 years now is online every day of the week.

Growth of e-commerce has occurred in all segments of society, despite challenges faced by the most vulnerable of the country’s population. Smartphones are the first means by which users in the country transact online (93%), followed by laptops (36%), desktops (28%), smart televisions (16%), and tablets (11%).

What’s been the impact of COVID-19 on Colombian e-commerce?

The arrival of the coronavirus has had an impact worldwide, Colombia not withstanding. For example, in Colombia’s capital of Bogota, messaging and home services have increased by 28%, a higher figure compared to last March.

In a study carried out by MercadoLibre, 4 out of 10 Colombians had changed their purchasing habits through e-commerce as a result of COVID-19.

In the last four weeks in the country, there’s been a reported increase of 190,000 searches related to products in health categories such as face masks (10 million), antibacterial (3.5 million, gel alcohol (8.5 million), thermometers (1 million ) among others.

Searches related to products for health protection have increased 11x more than usual. Purchases of basic necessities have also increased, specifically groceries, personal hygiene products and medications.

In total MercadoLibre’s platform registered more than 1.7 million new users in Latin America. Since Covid’s arrival in the region, of which 56% made at least 1 or 2 purchases within the platform, 20% made at minus 2 purchases and 24% made more than 3 purchases.

E-commerce has increased over 1000% in past decade

In 2018 Colombia ranked fourth in Latin America in sales via e-commerce, with $6 billion USD in sales being recorded.

Adobe, the Fortune 500 tech behemoth, this past quarter partnered with Medellin multinational Talos Digital in a collaboration aiming to expand e-commerce footprints in Latin America. According to Talos, the e-commerce market in Latin America will reach $70 billion USD in 2020.

While there are a number of ways e-commerce needs to improve in the region, including in shipping and transportation, the region has been consolidating itself into one of the most attractive markets in the world.

By 2021, e-commerce retail sales in Colombia are expected to exceed $ 10 billion, thus bringing the country to the same level as countries like Argentina and Mexico. Brazil today remains the country with the highest sale of e-commerce in Latin America.

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