Violent guerrillas are taking Colombia's children. Unarmed Indigenous groups are confronting them

CALDONO, Colombia (AP) — When Patricia Elago Zetty’s 13-year-old son went missing in Colombia’s conflict-ridden southwest, she didn’t hesitate. Elago and five fellow members of the Indigenous Guard trekked across mountainous terrain to confront the guerrillas they suspected of taking her son and another teenager to bolster their ranks.

When the unarmed Guard members reached the guerrillas’ camp, about 30 fighters stopped them at gunpoint. After a tense wait, a tall commander stepped out from a gate, and Elago said she had come for her son. The commander said he would “verify” whether the boy was there.

After about an hour of negotiations and radio calls, five more guerrillas arrived with her son Stiven and the other boy. When she saw Stiven, Elago said, it felt like her soul returned to her body.

“He hugged me and said, ‘Mom, I never thought you’d risk so much,’” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It was a victory.”

https://apnews.com/article/colombia-indigenous-children-farc-drugs-recruitment-520cbff5c46a0959d134f5a0b14b0748