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Apr 2025
21m 31s

From guerrillas to entrepreneurs

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Nearly a decade has passed since the Colombian government signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Farc, the largest left-wing guerrilla group in Latin America. Thousands of Farc fighters came out of their jungle and mountain hideouts, handed in their weapons, and returned to civilian life.

The state has helped them reintegrate into the workforce, find jobs, and start businesses, so how has that process gone?

We talk to former members of the Farc who spent years in the guerrilla organisation and in jail, who are now doing jobs like beekeeping and selling beer. How have they found the transition? And we hear from a woman whose mother was kidnapped by the Farc, and who questions why the state is spending so much time and money on former members of a group that committed terrible atrocities.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presented and produced by Gideon Long

(Picture: View of bottles of craft beer made by former Farc rebels. Credit: Getty Images)

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