In a developing story, Colombia’s FARC guerillas released video of nine hostages held against their will.The three soldiers and six policemen were kidnapped between 1997 and 1999 by the rebels and little had been known of their condition until today. The information was presented at a news conference currently going on by the head of a local group representing the families of some of the hundreds of those kidnapped and held hostage deep in the Colombian jungle.
The videos of the nine hostages come on the heels of information recently released by the FARC of two other soldiers kidnapped in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Those videos (image) and today’s footage were publicized via opposition Sen. Piedad Cordoba who has previously worked to broker hostage releases by the FARC.
Speaking of the FARC, it’s worth checking out this article in the Huffington Post of a teen who had previously served as a guerilla. The eye-opening interview describes the horrors of war as well as how easily the now-19-year-old former rebel was recruited at the age of eight:
(…) The FARC banks on the fact that many children in the poor rural areas of Colombia dream of the security, adventure and thrill of being in a military force. Schooling is difficult for poor rural children (Maria had to walk three hours to get to school), and food, nurture and comfort hard to come by. Family abuse is also typical: Maria's own father had beat her.Image- BBC News
"I wanted to be a guerilla," Maria told me smiling, her hair pulled back neatly in pink barrettes. "I dreamed of holding a gun. Then a FARC guerrilla came to recruit me, offering me an iPod, so I left my father and stepmother."
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, CNN, El Tiempo, Canal RCN, Huffington Post
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