Men and women don the same fatigues and perform some same work: clean up, cooking, framework

No gender haven

Rios’s mountainside go camping regarding municipality out of Icononzo keeps three hundred anyone, of which 125 is actually female, in keeping with the brand new gender proportion of FARC as a whole.

“For people, feminine have the same liberties once the men,” said 38-year-old Gregory Morales, a great 17-seasons seasoned of your push back class.

In the place of best-side paramilitaries they fought against, FARC has a good gender discourse, told you Kimberly Theidon, a teacher and you can academic director from gender study in the worldwide studies during the Tufts University’s Fletcher College or university.

Both previous and newest ladies in FARC IRIN interviewed said that they had entered the newest rebels willingly and had been free to like its sexual couples. None said they’d experienced sexual problems – statements in line with just what you to definitely trauma counsellor whom works with ex-combatants got together with seen.

These types of levels vary from accounts compiled by individual rights watchdogs including Amnesty International and the ones liberties did not extend on the authorities whenever it came to pregnancies.

“Whenever you are an excellent guerrilla, you have got to need contraceptive,” said Victoria Sandino, an elder FARC frontrunner who was the group’s associate towards a good gender sub-payment while in the serenity discussions inside Havana, Cuba.

She told you it absolutely was a necessity since the FARC was at an enthusiastic energetic battle. If the guerrillas got pregnant and planned to hold the baby, that they had to go out of the group. Whenever they wanted to remain, they’d to help you abort, told you Sandino.

“There is certainly the new ideology as there are the reality, and there is a space among them,” said Theidon, listing just how she had viewed middle-aged commanders that have fairly girls from the its side. “What is to the 45-year-old-man to your younger guerrillera?”

Theidon, having investigated brand new FARC extensively, said men guerrillas said they won’t have to wed the comrades as women fighters had multiple sexual couples. “There clearly was a great stigma up to these types of women, even one of several ones they offered.”

Feminine are not portrayed regarding the better echelons of the armed outfit. About 7-representative secretariat you to controls the latest FARC, such as, there are not any female.

“For us, it has been hard to get into positions from frontrunners because it is an armed forces which have an excellent patriarchal design and you will machismo,” Sandino approved, incorporating you to definitely inside the peace negotiations, an inside endeavor having recognising female ensued.

“If you find yourself browsing put the landmine, you will want to definitely dont inhale, your hand do not shake”

Five years ago, she said, there are no feminine one ladies in Copenhagen in Denmark of several 29 senior commanders of your FARC’s combined general employees. Today, you’ll find 61 commanders and you will eleven of these was feminine.

Friendship and you will fraternity

Since thirty two-year-dated Yurany Cardenas are a young child expanding up on a farm boxed-in of the araderie. She dutifully assisted their particular mother and you can absolutely nothing cousin build corn and you will yucca, but it is an older male relative she looked around. Whenever she is 14 years old, you to cousin, old 22 during the time, remaining to participate the fresh new FARC.

Cardenas, for example anyone else elevated for the secluded corners out-of Colombia, has already been familiar with the team. Her mom was also poor to transmit Cardenas and her sister to school and you can FARC competitors pitched inside the. “They gave my personal mother money and so i could go to college, get books and you may uniforms,” said Cardenas. “With regards to help, We learned 36 months out of number one university.”

But Cardenas wasn’t looking college or university. She planned to sign-up their cousin. Cardenas said she produced numerous tries to convince the latest guerrillas and you can they in the long run arranged, on the position she talked to help you their mother regarding it. Their unique mom, unsurprisingly, begged their unique to remain: “You’re larger, not large enough,” Cardenas recalled their own claiming.