School education with rifles: guerrillas and drug traffickers deliver books and notebooks to children in Colombia

The children smile and show emotion as they thank the delivery of notebooks and colors to illegal armed groups.

What would be a common gesture of solidarity ends in an event that generates commotion in Colombia.

In recent days, videos of children in Norte de Santander and Barranquilla have been published on social networks in which they are seen thanking members of the 33rd front of the FARC dissidents and the criminal organization Los Costeños for their gesture of supposed generosity with them.

They are calm and comfortable.

You don't see the slightest fear in them.

With complete naturalness, a girl from the EL Recreo educational center, located in the municipality of Sardinata, took the spokesperson for the group and forcefully referred to the aid received by one of the top leaders of the dissidents of the main guerrilla group that has had Colombia and who frequently publishes videos on his Facebook account showing his apparent charitable works: “We thank the 33rd front of the FARC for these school kits, and especially Mr. Jaime and Mr. Richard.

Thank you,” says the girl.

It is not the first time this has happened in Norte de Santander.

Something similar happened last June.

Videos were published on social networks in which members of the same 33rd front led an integration day, a soccer match between guerrillas and the community and even a Catholic ceremony in the Barranchas village, a rural area of ​​the municipality of Tibú.

Even, playing the role of the mayor of the municipality, Andrey Avendaño, one of the leaders of the armed group, stood in front of everyone and proudly spoke about the bridge and the road that they gave to the community: “We gave the word, the community He asked us and it is the road that you are looking at here.

We wanted to show that it is possible to make a difference, when there is determination and dedication,” said Avendaño.

Jhon Robert Chavarro, commander of the Norte de Santander Police, told RCN Radio last Monday that he is not certain about the veracity of the events that occurred and that “they are verifying with the other authorities whether what is shown is true or not. armed groups.”

In the same interview, Chavarro stated that one of the citizens with whom they spoke said that this is an “example of the lack of presence of the State in the region that puts at risk the students who are at the mercy of the illegal armed groups that "They want to impose their law."

This practice, in addition to generating roots in the region, would have the purpose of delegitimizing negotiations with the national government.

In Barranquilla, several happy children were also seen receiving school kits.

This time it was by Los Costeños, the feared criminal group that grew stronger after defeating the Vega Daza clan in Barranquilla.

In the early hours of this Wednesday, videos circulated of children displaying suitcases with notebooks and colors in Soledad, a municipality in the department of Atlántico.

And, as if they were in the middle of a political campaign, a leader of the illegal group is heard speaking where he expresses his concern for the education of the region's children: “For Los Costeños it is crucial that our children study to recover the fabric social and advance in the search for peace.

For a coast with education, a coast for the coastal people.”

Giving gifts, organizing activities in the community and making roads are the most common ways to play with the innocence of minors, generate interest in them and recruit them into their ranks to strengthen armed groups in the regions.

According to official figures from Case 07 on the recruitment and use of girls and boys in the armed conflict of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), it is estimated that from 1996 to 2022 there were between 19,253 and 23,811 minors recruited by groups. illegal armed.

This practice has not stopped in Colombia.

Last January, in the El Dorado village, in the department of Huila, several children also received gifts from the Darío Gutiérrez front of the FARC dissidents.

On this occasion, the motivational phrases that came with the notebooks caught our attention: “For being a child fighter, the FARC-EP shares a gift with you.”

Even the cards had images of the dejected commander of that guerrilla Alfonso Cano or Karl Marx.

At that time, Sebastián Martínez, spokesperson for the dissidence of the Central General Staff (EMC) at the dialogue table with the national government, referred to what happened and said that the videos that were published about the delivery of gifts at Christmas and School supplies are part of “a normal and daily practice of that armed group.

Added to these are activities such as health brigades, construction of homes, opening of roads, among others,” Martínez stated candidly.

While, on the contrary, Edgar Martín Lara, Secretary of the Government of Huila, said that it is “an instrument of deception.”

so that people can trust and allow them entry, and then comes a whole host of conditions and restrictions for the communities themselves.”

It was expected that these events would alert several opposition congressmen, including María Fernanda Cabal, senator from the Democratic Center.

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