Now Comes the Hard Part in Colombia

Kejal Vyas has a good story on Colombia’s Epic War Is Ending. Now Comes the Hard Part. I don't really like "Now Comes to the Hard Part." Maybe something like "It Won't Get Any Easier"? In the story, Vyas retells some concerns that FARC soldiers have about giving up their dreams of revolutionary success to participate in a capitalist system that shunned them, or one that they have never known.

For years now, the guerrillas of the so-called First Front of the FARC rebel group survived aerial bombings and firefights, measly rations and nightly battles with armies of red ants that crawled into their makeshift jungle beds.

But for them and many of the 6,800 FARC combatants scattered across Colombia’s hinterland, a new and, in some ways, more daunting phase lies just ahead: peace. “Our world is about to be turned upside down,” said Carolina Torres, 37, a guerrilla for 22 years who serves as a nurse in the First Front.

While the leadership can contemplate the establishment of a political party and their potential future as elected officials or civil society leaders, perhaps, the rank-and-file are left contemplating what to do with their bomb-making skills.

In El Salvador, some demobilized soldiers and guerrillas put their skills to work carrying out bank robberies. A few members of the Salvadoran National Resistance (RN) traveled to Guatemala to fight in that country's war but left rather quickly once they were unconvinced about the seriousness of the URNG soldiers.

For most, the transition is going to be difficult. Few jobs. Little education. Uncertain government assistance. I've heard that one-third to one-half of the demobilized Salvadoran and Guatemalan guerrillas probably live in the United States.