Visa for the image: baby boom in the Colombian jungle

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Angelina returned to the guerrillas at the age of 11 after being kicked out by her mother and her stepfather tried to abuse her. She is one of the first former guerrillas to become pregnant in the jungle, without really planning it. Catalina Martin-Chico / Cosmos

After 53 years of guerrilla war, the FARC surrendered their weapons in 2016 and begin a new life today. Photojournalist Catalina Martin-Chico met them in the Colombian jungle. She exhibited in Perpignan as part of the Visa festival for the image.

In the Colombian jungle, babies have replaced weapons. Since peace with Bogota was signed in 2016, hundreds of FARC ex-combatants have decided to give birth. Like to make up for lost time. During the 53 years of the conflict, pregnancies were prohibited. Those who became pregnant were forced to abort or abandon their child. The exact number of these new births is not known, but it seems sufficient enough for us to speak of "baby boom". And that these babies embody the hope of lasting peace.

Photojournalist Catalina Martin-Chico has traveled to Colombia twice to document this phenomenon. She went to three of the twenty-six transit zones where the former guerrillas were regrouped to prepare for their integration into society. If his photographs are imbued with a certain sweetness, their legends reveal the hard learning of the "normal life". There is something. How do you bring life when you have been trained to kill? How do you found a home when you left your home as a teenager? How does one become sedentary after years of moving?

" The guerrillas have closed my heart "

Through a portrait gallery, Catalina Martin-Chico tells the daily life of these women who participated in the longest guerrilla war in history. There is Angelina among them. She is seen giving breast to her baby in the middle of a road dug ruts that border khaki tents. " The guerrillas have closed my heart ," she says later. I can reopen it with my son. When she joined the FARC at age 11 after being chased by her mother, Angelina had to take a name of war: Olga. " By committing themselves, these girls had to give up their lives before. They had to find a new name, cut all contact with their family, "says the photojournalist.

Like Angelina, most of the women interviewed were engaged when they were only eleven to fifteen years old. This is also the case of Yorladis who exposes his round belly in a room lined with posters of cartoons. This is her sixth pregnancy. She had five during the guerrilla period, all aborted, the last to six months. " I had to give birth like a full-term baby, he was tall and trained. I made a hole next to my tent, buried it and spent two hours crying it, "she recalls.

Yorladis, 8 months pregnant, in her house in the camp of FARC veterans, in the jungle of Guaviare. She had five pregnancies in the jungle, abortions, some at an advanced term. Catalina Martin-Chico / Cosmos

Limited conversion opportunities

Two years after the signing of the peace agreements, the transit camps have turned into villages. Many have left to join their families. They were replaced by relatives of those who preferred to stay. For those men and women who have spent their lives in the wild with a handgun, the possibilities for retraining are limited: either bodyguard or farmer. But the work of the earth can not be improvised and their knowledge in this area remains sketchy. " They could only raise cattle or grow a vegetable garden when the fighting calmed down," says Catalina Martin-Chico. The rest of the time, they fed on the products bought from the peasants . "

Some, like Chechis and Leonardo, chose to settle in the city. They live there in fear of rejection and the feeling of being hated. In 53 years, FARC guerrillas have killed 260,000 people, displaced 7 million and tens of thousands of missing people. A large part of the Colombian population was opposed to the peace agreements; she would have preferred to see the veterans judged. The new president Ivan Duque himself denounced during his election campaign a text deemed too favorable to former guerrillas.

Despite this hostility and limited livelihoods, will the FARC elders continue to make their way to peace? The women met by Catalina Martin-Chico seem in any case determined. " With their children, no turning back is possible. No more question for them to take up arms, "reports the photojournalist.

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