Armed groups target Colombia's children as reform process slows

For families in the northern province of Cauca, time is running out as drug gangs and guerrilla groups exploit Covid chaos

Luis Troches was walking home from the shop in late July when armed men stopped him along a dirt road in south-west Colombia. They gave the 14-year-old an ultimatum: he could join their group – dissidents from the demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) – or they could take him and his 11-year-old sister by force.

“He came home scared and distant,” said his mother, Luzmery. Both knew that the men, who control their hamlet in the northern Cauca province, would be back for an answer. “He told me, ‘I don’t want to go. What should I do?’”

We don’t want any more massacres. We’re tired of our youth being recruited or killed

We dream that our youth can replace us as defenders of life. We want them to support the community, not destroy it

Related: 'We're being massacred': Colombia accused of failing to stop murders of activists

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IfCgIa