Word: guerrillas
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These boys, ages 14 to 19, are drawing the stories of their lives. They used to be members of Colombian guerrilla groups. Now, after putting down their arms, they are trying to rejoin civilian life...
...machines to normal human beings." The rehabilitation program, started in 2003 and supported by Developing Minds and Colombia's Family Welfare Institute, offers housing, recreation, counseling, schooling and vocational training to former child soldiers. The 31 boys here are among the nearly 3,000 minors who have given up guerrilla life under a 2003 government amnesty program. The guerrilla groups, formed out of the leftist peasant militias of the 1960s, continue to fight Colombia's government and rightist paramilitary forces but have been greatly weakened in recent years, defeated in battle and diminished by desertion. (See pictures of child soldiers...
...many fighters, especially children, leaving the guerrillas can trigger an identity crisis, says Colombian psychologist Luis Gaviria. "They're like scared rabbits in a world they know nothing about." Many come from impoverished rural communities and enlisted at as young as 9 years old. While some are kidnapped and forced to join rebel groups, the majority are lured with empty promises of salaries, says Martha Mesa, a social worker at the center. Others join for darker reasons: for those who have lost loved ones in the cross fire between guerrillas and paramilitary groups, vengeance can be a powerful motivator. Humberto...
...gangs is a sign that they were rattled. Critics call the relentless violence proof that Calderón took a baseball bat to a hornet's nest but wasn't ready for the hornets - and point out that the Mexican army is not particularly well trained for the urban-guerrilla nature of drug wars. Either way, by last year Washington had become alarmed at Mexico's slaughter: Congress approved $400 million in aid for Mexico's drug war, the first installment of what is supposed to be a three-year, $1.5 billion package known as the Mérida Initiative...
...predominantly white and more affluent population is at sometimes violent odds with Morales' pro-indigenous agenda, and where the lion's share of the nation's vast natural resources are located. "He told me about his involvement in fights in the jungle," Brady wrote. "He was one of [many] guerrilla fighters there." (Is Evo Morales one of the world's most influential people? Vote for the TIME...