Colombia's former child rebels try to rebuild their lives.

Pedro_P

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▼ "There were battles and I didn't know what to do. You had to fire your gun like a crazy person to stop yourself getting killed," says 15-year-old Luis.
Recruited just days before his 14th birthday, Luis (not his real name) spent 12 months inside the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), a Colombian guerrilla group involved in drug trafficking and other illicit activities that operates mainly along the northern border with Venezuela.
For Luis, one of the hardest things to get used to as a young fighter were the long night walks through the mountains.
"They go out a lot at night. The leave at 20:00 in total darkness and without torches. They keep a distance of 10m to 15m (30-45ft) between each other and walk for two hours," he recalls.
'How did I get here?'
Luis was given a uniform and two weeks of basic firearms training before he and other recruits faced an initiation test. They were told they would be killed if they failed to open fire when ordered to.
"The [guerrilla] officers said we were going to attack a police station and so they took all the new guys to attack it. And we opened fire until a plane arrived and we retreated," he says.
"I was scared because it was the first time. I had only been with them for a couple of weeks."
It was then he realised he had made a mistake and decided to run away. "I thought to myself: how did I get here? To the point that I am shooting a weapon?"
Luis escaped from the EPL with the help of a guerrilla commander who took pity on him back in February.
At the time, he never thought he would be given the chance to turn his life around. But after six months studying at Benposta, a home and school for ex-combatants, he has decided he wants to go to university and become a chef.
Seduced by false promises (▪ ▪ ▪)

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asr335704

Its heartening to see, these folks got second chance in their life and now are trying to become better person.

tah701

Some accidents really happen suddenly. Nowhere to go, nothing to do...But when we realize, it's too late.