Colombia: Children Recruited by FARC Dissidents for Illegal Trade Wars

In Colombia, splinter groups of the former FARC guerrillas, known as dissidents, are intensifying conflicts over drug trafficking and illegal gold mining territories. Despite the peace agreement signed a decade ago, these economically motivated factions continue to forcibly recruit children into their ranks. Minors, some as young as ten, are utilized as cannon fodder, spies, and combatants, with estimates suggesting that at least 45 percent of new recruits are underage. The article highlights personal stories like those of Sol, recruited at eleven, and Ramón, who joined at sixteen due to poverty. Experts attribute the surge in armed actors, now exceeding 25,000, to President Gustavo Petro’s dialogue-focused security policy, which armed groups have exploited to strengthen their economic bases. Recent violence, including a deadly bomb attack on the Pan-American Highway near Cali, underscores the escalating instability. Humanitarian NGOs warn that state restraint has allowed these criminal enterprises to expand, perpetuating a cycle of violence that disproportionately victimizes vulnerable youth in regions like the Cauca mountains.