What the coronavirus pandemic looks like for Colombia's former FARC fighters
Communities all over the world are trying to manage the coronavirus crisis, with varying amounts of support from governments. We contacted people who used to fight in the guerrilla movement The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), to see how they were coping. These men and women often live communally in remote rural areas of Colombia and their complex relationships with other communities and the government have made pandemic life difficult. The Colombian government signed a peace deal with the FARC-EP in 2016. Now, more than 13,000 former combatants live as civilians. Some have taken a collective path, entering civilian life as communities. Others have gone it alone, starting their own businesses, entering the job market or returning to their families. In March 2020, when the first case of COVID-19 was registered in Colombia, more than one-quarter of ex-combatants were still living in the special territorial areas that were set up in 2017 to help reincorporate them