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The Role of Children as Peace-Makers in Colombia Development, 43:1, March 2000
In 1995, the mayor of the beleaguered, war-torn municipality of Aguachica in eastern Colombia announced that a referendum would be held asking residents to choose whether they wanted war or peace. Aguachica had become a microcosm of Colombia’s decades-long guerrilla war. Guerrillas and paramilitaries fought each other by attacking anyone they believed guilty of supporting the other side. Husbands were slaughtered in front of wives, parents in front of children, community leaders in front of entire villages. Many families had been forced out of their homes by violence.
Shortly after the announcement of the municipal referendum – the first of its kind anywhere in Colombia – a group of children went to the mayor to ask if they could also take part. With the mayor’s blessing they set off around the town, singing peace songs, condemning violence and urging children to come out and choose peace. Many children took part in that historic ballot in Aguachica, but their votes were seen as purely symbolic and were never even counted.
The following year, on the other side of the country, children in Apartadó, set about forming their own government of children dedicated to peace making. Apartadó lies in the Urabá region, close to the Panama border. It had been a virtual fiefdom of the guerrillas for decades. They dominated the banana workers’ unions. The families of disaffected labourers were a good source of recruits for the struggle. The nearby Gulf of Urabá gave shelter for illegal trade in drugs and arms which, along with kidnapping for ransom and extortion, generated revenue of about a billion dollars a year to keep the revolution alive. |
Sara Cameron Life Stories |
