After the Violence Peace Efforts in Colombia Have Ended 50 Years of Intense Conflict

After the violence Peace efforts in Colombia have ended 50 years of intense conflict. Now, scientists are studying former fighters and victims as they attempt to heal.

BY SARA REARDON

hen she first of thousands of people and displaced had gathered hundreds Fighters with FARC have began study- millions. Four of Trujillo’s family mem- of ex-combatants for a chance to re-enter ing the people bers had been kidnapped, and the the day in Medellín’s Colombian society. who had ter- violence had driven her father from his botanical garden. rorized her farmland. Some of her colleagues had She and her research team entered the country,W Natalia Trujillo prepared herself experienced much worse. enclave with a battery of cognitive tests, to come face to face with monsters. Trujillo, now a neuroscientist at the panic buttons — in case something went She would be interviewing former University of Antioquia in Medellín, was wrong — and some preconceived ideas. “I combatants from the long, bloody con- interested in studying the psychological thought people who can kill their neigh- flict that had gripped Colombia for more roots of violence by looking at fighters bours, that can destroy their communi-

FEDERICO RIOS ESCOBAR/NYT/REDUX/EYEVINE than 50 years. The complex power strug- who had laid down their weapons and ties, that can have the heart to force other gle between guerrilla insurgents, the were trying to re-enter civilian society. people to abandon their farms — they government, paramilitary groups and Her chance came in 2010, with a gov- have to be really bad,” Trujillo says. She drug traffickers had killed hundreds ernment reintegration programme that found a few who met her expectations.

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The town of Vista Hermosa could serve as a natural laboratory for the study of reconciliation.

With chains around their necks and boast- a unique opportunity to understand a popu- realized not ful swaggers, some tried to intimidate the lation that has both inflicted and suffered the researchers. But more often, the scientists horrors of war. Most research into the psy- all of them found ordinary people, strolling in the gar- chological roots of violence and trauma has “I den and eating ice cream with their children. been performed with veterans from wealthy are sociopaths. “At the beginning I was pretty disap- countries who fought in conflicts far from pointed,” she says. If something were wrong home. Most of Colombia’s ex-combatants, by I realized most with their brains, it would provide an easy contrast, have little education and are trying explanation for the evil they had done. But to re-enter the same society they once ter- of them are also after studying more than 600 combatants, rorized. There, they face enormous stigma she has begun to grasp the complexity of and resentment, which makes it difficult for victims.” their experiences. “I realized not all of them them to find work and form relationships are sociopaths. I realized most of them are with others. also victims.” A handful of scientists are now study- countries’ recovery efforts. That recognition has led Trujillo and her ing the former fighters in unprecedented But the research is also revealing just colleagues to re-examine not only their own detail, in the hope that they will be able to how deep the challenge is. And some feelings about ex-combatants, but also the inform and guide the peacemaking process. experts worry that the care available to ex- country’s approach to dealing with them. They have found that years of isolation and combatants in the meantime is inadequate. Colombia’s government is currently engaged exposure to violence might have altered the “It’s going to be incredibly difficult to get out in one of the largest peace efforts in history. ex-combatants’ psychology and cognitive of this vicious cycle,” says Jiovani Arias, a As part of a 2016 treaty with the left-wing processing in subtle ways. In laboratory psychotherapist and political scientist at the guerrilla group known as the Revolution- tests, many have difficulty empathizing University of the Andes in Bogotá. Without ary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the with others and make flawed ethical judge- investment in improving mental health, he government will grant amnesty to fighters ments — shortcomings that could affect says, the legacy of violence that affects ex- who leave the conflict and complete a re- how they engage in civilian life. combatants and civilians alike could torpedo incorporation programme, provided they Scientists are now setting up long- Colombia’s precarious peace efforts. have not committed serious crimes. Around term studies in towns that were plagued 6,800 FARC fighters have entered already. by conflict, to track how cognition and THE ROAD TO PEACE The effort, which is politically contro- attitudes might change over the course As a bus full of scientists pulls into the town versial and expected to cost 129.5 trillion of the reconciliation process, both for ex- of Vista Hermosa in central Colombia, Colombian pesos (US$46 billion), faces combatants and for civilians. The data Diana Matallana, a neuropsychologist at the overwhelming odds. But it grants scientists could eventually inform other war-torn Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá,

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still seems unable to believe where she is. “Five years ago, you could not come here,” she says. “It’s like a symbol of the hardest part A lingering of the conflict.” Colombia’s armed conflict waxed and conﬂict waned for half a century as various mili- A 2016 treaty is helping to end decades of violence between the Colombian tant groups vied for control of territory. government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Civilians were caught in the crossfire: left-wing guerrilla group. As a result, thousands of former FARC combatants are entering designated ‘transit zones’ known as territorial spaces for more than 260,000 people were killed and training and reincorporation (ETCRs) which are dotted around the country. In 7 million displaced during the decades of these zones, the ex- ghters will begin a process to demobilize and prepare violence, according to a government registry for re-entry into Colombian society. Still, there are several guerrilla Caribbean of victims. groups that continue to ght, including 1,000 FARC ‘dissidents’ who Sea have refused to put down their weapons. They pose a danger to The Meta region, where Vista Hermosa ex-combatants and a challenge for peacemaking eorts. lies, was one of many areas abandoned by the Colombian military in the 1990s and ETCR FARC dissidents’ activity left to be governed alternately by paramilitary groups and guerrillas. It was a fraught arrangement. The guerrillas helped to develop infrastructure but were swift to kill suspected informants. The paramilitar- PANAMA ies, hired mostly by drug lords and wealthy VENEZUELA

AND RESPONSES TO TERRORISM (2017); RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://WWW.START.UMD.EDU/GTD TERRORISM (2017); RETRIEVED TO AND RESPONSES political elites, tended to be more ruthless, torturing suspected spies and leaving bodies Medellín across the doorsteps of elementary schools. Both sides dealt heavily in the cocaine trade South COLOMBIA and kidnapped thousands of people for ran- America Bogotá Pacific som — including Matallana’s brother. La Unión SOURCES: MAPS, ARN/LA FUNDACIÓN IDEAS PARA LA PAZ; GRAPH, NATL CONSORTIUM FOR THE STUDY OF TERRORISM THE STUDY CONSORTIUM FOR GRAPH, NATL LA PAZ; IDEAS PARA MAPS, ARN/LA FUNDACIÓN SOURCES: Since the 2016 peace deal, FARC combat- Ocean Cali Vista ants have been allowed to enter a disarma- Hermosa ment and rehabilitation campaign run by Colombia’s Reincorporation and Normali- zation Agency (ARN) in Bogotá. The ARN had been established years earlier, and it has since facilitated the reintegration of some 20,000 paramilitaries and guerrillas who left the conflict independently or as part of ECUADOR a separate peace agreement. For newly re-entering FARC members, HALF A CENTURY OF TERROR BRAZIL the ARN now operates 26 makeshift set- The Global Terrorism Database contains decades of data on tlements throughout Colombia, known as attacks and kidnappings initiated by FARC, paramilitaries, transit zones (see ‘A lingering conflict’). They drug trackers and other militant groups during the half PERU century of violence that gripped the country. These attacks 200 kilometres offer amenities such as education and health reect just a fraction of the estimated 260,000 lives lost to care, and help to provide at least a measure the conict over the years. of protection for the ex-combatants, who are regularly targeted by former enemies, Deaths Kidnappings former allies who refuse to surrender, and 1985 1989 civilians. After completing a programme, ex- Marxist guerrilla group Drug lord Pablo Escobar combatants can receive ID cards that allow M-19 lays siege to the orders the bombing of 1,200 Palace of Justice in Bogotá; Avianca Flight 203, them to live and work legally in the country. 89 people are killed. killing 107 passengers. The prospect of their return doesn’t thrill some local residents of Vista Hermosa. A 1,000 2002 road sign in Spanish that reads “Together, Fighting between FARC and peace and life after the conflict are possi- a paramilitary group results 800 ble” has been pelted with pink paintballs. 1977 in the death of 119 civilians “Someone disagrees,” remarks one of the Protester deaths in the town of Bojayá. during a general researchers. 600 workers’ strike Matallana and Carlos Gómez, a psychia- embolden rebel trist at Xavierian, are planning to launch a groups to capitalize 400 on public distrust of 10- to 20-year study following more than the government. 2,000 people in Vista Hermosa, civilians and ex-combatants alike. “We are plan- 200 ning for the first time — in Colombia and the world — to learn what things help for reconciliation,” Gómez says. 0 The team intends to measure factors such Data incomplete as neurodevelopment in children, social cog- 200 nition and emotional regulation in adults, 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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and all participants’ mental health to aid day I entered the organization to the day I the reintegration process. In a pilot project “From the deserted, I always had questions,” he says — funded by philanthropic foundations, they about himself, his comrades and the people have surveyed 200 civilians, plus representa- day I entered giving orders, particularly, their willingness tives for 150 ex-combatants living in a tran- to kill former allies. But Sánchez kept quiet sit zone just 3 hours away. “We need to have because questioning orders would get him good data to see how it works, and how we to the day killed. Instead, he rose in the ranks, eventu- could make interventions rapidly if we see ally leading some 25 fighters. the process is not coming well,” Gómez says. I deserted, By 2005, he had become more disillu- It’s been hard for researchers here and else- sioned with the FARC. A list of suspected where to study whether such programmes I always had informants he had been ordered to kill can prevent combatants from returning to included 12- and 13-year-old children, as crime, largely because it is often impossible to questions.” well as 2 people whom he knew from his track the outcomes of people who go through childhood. He ordered his troops to do it — them. “We just assume it has an effect, and something that haunts him to this day. “It is we have no other choice,” says Enzo Nussio, a — JUAN CARLOS you that carries the weight,” he says. political scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute Then, a few years later, the guerrillas con- of Technology in Zurich. SÁNCHEZ victed his girlfriend — also a FARC member Yet Nussio and others are hopeful about — of espionage. Sánchez made plans to run Colombia’s prospects. It has many more away with her, but was discovered and had to resources to devote to the effort than coun- flee on his own. He later learnt that she had tries, such as Burundi and Sudan, which have been executed. NATURE taken on similar efforts with little success. For three years, Sánchez lived in hiding in The former combatants, meanwhile, face a Meta, seeing enemies everywhere. “I lived in mix of challenges — some familiar and some constant worry,” he says. Eventually, a friend new. Like veterans from other conflicts, told him about the government rehabilitation

many find it difficult to be around people programme, and he joined. He moved to Valle KENDALL-BALL/ GREG who do not understand the experience of del Cauca and now clears fields for a living. He combat, says Thomas Elbert, a psychologist has seen a psychologist, and has begun reading at the University of Konstanz in Germany. the Bible. “Between the two, I’ve found a way They may reach out to others who have to forgive myself and to forgive others,” he says lived in violence, which can be dangerous in In the hotel, Sanchez watches the videos of a place such as Colombia, where drug traf- altercations interspersed with a series of ques- fickers and other armed groups still operate. tions, probing whether the imagery bothers Colombia itself poses some unique chal- him, or whether a responsible party should be lenges, Gómez says. Unlike those fighting punished. Then he tries to identify the emo- civil wars in many other places, Colombia’s tions on a series of faces. guerrilla fighters are not driven by race or “We’re looking at what kind of mistakes they religion, but by political ideology. Repro- make,” says Agustín Ibáñez, a neuroscientist at gramming their hearts and minds might call Favaloro University in Buenos Aires, Argen- for strategies different from those used for tina, who is administering the test, a mock other radicalized militants, war criminals or run of the type he has given to around 350 serial killers, and no one knows what those Colombian ex-combatants. Ibáñez aims to strategies should be. discern how isolation from society and expo- Gustavo Tovar, president of Vista Hermo- sure to violence might have impaired their sa’s municipal council, fears that his town — emotional processing and moral judgement. and the country — isn’t ready for the wave of Ex-combatants — FARC and paramilitary ex-combatants. “Colombia is in the middle alike — tend to have trouble distinguishing of this metamorphosis,” he says. “We went between emotions, especially fear and anger. into it without knowing what we are doing.” Although it is unclear whether these effects persist outside the lab, Ibáñez and his team WEIGHT OF THE PAST worry that emotional problems could make West of Meta lies Valle del Cauca, a mostly life even harder for the former fighters, as flat agricultural region surrounded by they have for ex-combatants elsewhere. mountains. Here, in a luxurious hotel over- He and Eduar Herrera, a cognitive psy- looking vineyards and sugarcane fields, chologist at Icesi University in Cali, began former FARC commander Juan Carlos facto government. The guerrillas persuaded this line of research in 2014, working Sánchez is watching videos on a laptop. locals to arm themselves in case the para- with a group of paramilitaries in jail for Designed for research, they feature different militaries and government returned, telling war crimes. They had killed an average of types of altercation: an argument between them that this was the only way to protect 33 people each, and some were responsible two people, someone getting bumped by a their families. Eventually, Sánchez joined the for massacring hundreds. chair, one person stabbing another in the group officially. “The first time, we were very scared,” back with a knife. At first, he says, the guerrillas did not Ibáñez recalls. The ex-combatants weren’t Sánchez joined the guerrillas in 1998 while attack civilians — they just schooled their handcuffed, and met the researchers face living in Meta. It was not entirely by choice, recruits in politics and warfare skills. But to face. “You have the feeling they can kill he says. When the Colombian military aban- over time, the FARC became more vio- everyone if they want.” doned the region, the FARC became the de lent and suspicious of others. “From the In 2017, the researchers found that a key

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characteristic of ex-combatants is how they Colombia. Misas joined the ELN at 15 years judge the morality of an action1. Most par- old to get away from her family, and grew NATURE ticipants would condemn an attempted poi- to love the ideology and the companionship soning, for instance, even if it failed to kill it provided. But then she fell down during a the target. But Ibáñez’s group has found that difficult march and was injured, losing her ex-combatants are less likely to condemn pregnancy. Her companions abandoned someone for a failed murder attempt, reason- her, and she ended up in the hospital for a GREG KENDALL-BALL/ GREG ing that if the victim didn’t die, there was no long time. Distrusting her loyalty after that, harm done. At the same time, they are more a fellow combatant — her closest friend — likely to want to punish people for harm that betrayed Misas to the Colombian army. She is clearly accidental. By their logic, the out- was captured and agreed to demobilize. come is more important than the intention. Like Sánchez, she can’t return to her home On the basis of a small sample, it seems in Medellín, for fear that the ELN would kill that paramilitaries are more impaired in this her as a traitor. Although Misas enjoys her regard than guerrillas. Ibáñez says this differ- work as a tour guide in Valle del Cauca, ence could make sense: people who joined depression keeps her from pursuing her the paramilitaries for a salary may have been dreams. “I wish that when I get sad, I would more attracted to violence than those who be like a normal person that just gets sad for joined the guerrillas for ideological reasons, a little moment and doesn’t have thoughts as although there’s no way of testing this. The strange as mine,” she says. She hasn’t seen any data suggest that rehabilitation programmes psychotherapists, but her dog provides some should not treat all ex-combatants the same. solace, as does religion. Still, her thoughts Trujillo has also found striking differences turn dark — perhaps, she says, the real rea- in her participants. In a study of 624 ex-guer- son she joined the group was because she rillas and ex-paramilitaries2, she and her col- hoped to be killed. “How can I let go of those leagues found that the ability to empathize thoughts?” she asks. fell into 3 clusters: 22% of ex-combatants According to the ARN’s data, more than functioned much like people who haven’t 90% of ex-combatants in the programme experienced violence; 32% had the ability to have a psychosocial problem, such as post- recognize pain or misfortune in others but traumatic stress disorder or anxiety. Regional weren’t as affected by it; and the rest could ARN coordinator Juan Fernando Vélez says neither recognize feelings such as emotional “How can I let that mental health is one of his top priori- distress in others, nor empathize with them. ties in working with them. Trujillo’s data, he The researchers wonder whether these ex- go of these says, persuaded his office to create a special combatants — who demobilized voluntarily reintegration track for people with psychi- — are similar to the 6,800 FARC fighters who thoughts?” atric problems. “We cannot give to society entered the reincorporation programme as an individual that is not adjusted,” he says. part of the 2016 treaty, many on orders from Joshua Mitrotti, who directed the ARN for their commanders. Unlike Sánchez, many — VIVIANA three years before resigning in March, says are still steadfastly ideological. Oscar Vega, that the agency’s programmes are based for example, a slight, intense former FARC MISAS on efforts in Central America in the 1990s, commander who lives in the transit zone which provided vocational training and near Vista Hermosa, steers almost every con- education for armed groups. Psychosocial versation around to ways in which Colom- that the ex-combatants’ neurocircuitry has support is an integral component, he says. bia’s government and educational system adapted to react faster to threats. The ARN’s programme for guerrillas and hurt people. He still lives for the cause. “Our Trujillo’s group advises the Medellín paramilitaries who demobilized voluntarily documents and our ideology say that we branch of the ARN in its effort to rehabili- included 30 months’ worth of psychosocial have to take control of power either through tate ex-combatants. But trying to use science services, from about 300 psychologists and arms or through a political way,” he says. to inform policy can feel like sculpting with 65 social workers, on average. So far, 20,490 Trujillo is comparing various types of dry sand. “Research has been very compli- people have completed the reintegration therapy to determine how best to help the ex- cated because it’s a very new topic, not just process, and the ARN says that more than combatants improve their performance in for Colombia but for cognitive and social 70% have successfully re-entered society. tests of empathy3. And she and her colleagues neuroscience literature,” she says. But with tens of thousands of ex- are using electroencephalography (EEG) to Researchers also worry that the govern- combatants in Colombia, there are simply monitor ex-combatants’ brain activity, hop- ment could lose patience. “If you cannot not enough skilled mental-health practition- ing to learn how they process information4. find something strong to demonstrate what’s ers to provide basic care, much less intensive In unpublished research, the team has found going on, you cannot propose a solution,” cognitive therapy. As a result, some worry that former fighters are quicker to recognize says José David López, an engineer who that the reintegration programme might faces than are civilians — even though they works with Trujillo interpreting EEG data at be providing poor treatment. “It’s not that are slower to identify the emotions on them. the University of Antioquia. “They need it they are doing things wrong, but they are They are also better at performing mem- now, not in ten years.” incomplete,” Herrera says. ory tasks that are accompanied by violent One challenge is the difficulty of providing imagery such as blood or corpses. People A BATTLE WITHIN treatment to adults who might not have com- whom the researchers identified as victims Viviana Misas’s wrist bears the name of the pleted elementary school and cannot read, a of violence show the opposite pattern — such baby she miscarried while living with the skill required for some common therapies. imagery disturbs their concentration and National Liberation Army (ELN) — another Mitrotti says that the ARN has been slows their responses. The researchers think left-wing guerrilla group that is still active in adjusting the approaches to make them more

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With a sluggish economy, and continued controversy over the agreement with the FARC, many in Colombia see bleak prospects for the future.

appropriate. According to the ARN, 30% of FARC fought the paramilitaries. or sanitation. And farming and vocational- the people coming for psychosocial ser- Now the streets are quiet and people lin- development programmes have been slow to vices last year did so without any monetary ger at outside cafes. A few are missing legs; take off. Across the country, more than half inducement (ex-combatants often receive a Colombia has one of the highest rates of of the guerrillas have left the zones, opting to stipend for participating in programmes). landmine casualties in the world, and Meta take their chances in a society that is unsafe “They are coming not because they’re paid is one of the most heavily mined regions. for them. Since the agreement, hundreds of but because they believe they need the Against the backdrop of a government former FARC members have been killed. support of our professionals,” Mitrotti says. As ex-combatants re-enter society or But help for the newly demobilized FARC retreat into the jungle, experts worry about members has been slow in coming. Andres the stigma they carry — of being affiliated Restrepo, a sociologist who works in a tran- obody with the FARC and of mental illness. Matal- sit zone in Caqueta, says that the FARC helped lana hopes that one of the things her research ex-combatants there are not receiving any “N can do is to show the public how trauma mental-health care at all. Restrepo says the affects ex-combatants and civilians alike. ARN has promised that 6 psychologists them imagine Resources are in short supply and the will come to the region, but that even that a life without problem is unimaginably complex, says wouldn’t be sufficient for the 1,000 ex-com- Vélez. Ultimately, he says, Colombia’s success batants and their families living there, now. weapons.” rests on the will of its people and their ability Restrepo fears that if these individuals to make peace with the past. “There are no are not psychologically stable, the rejection magical formulas,” he says. “The only thing from society — including their own fami- crackdown on the cocaine trade, falling oil we need to understand is that everybody lies — could drive them back into violence. prices and rising fears that peace is tempo- needs — deserves — a second chance.” ■ “Nobody helped them imagine a life with- rary, the people of Piñalito seem to have few out weapons,” he says. prospects for the future. Sara Reardon reports for Nature from And the peace agreement itself is threat- Washington DC. Travel funding for this AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE ened. This month, Colombia will hold its project was provided by the Pulitzer Center In Piñalito, a tiny, dusty town of fluorescent presidential election, and the key issue is on Crisis Reporting. wooden houses on the outskirts of Vista whether to renegotiate the deal to make 1. Baez, S. et al. Nature Human Behav. 1, 0118 Hermosa, civilians are still getting accus- it less favourable for the FARC. Many of (2017). tomed to peace. “It’s great — there are no the guerrillas, meanwhile, are losing faith 2. Trujillo, S. P. et al. J. Peace Psychol. https://doi. org/10.1037/pac0000255 (2017). dead people,” says Carlos Garcia, an elderly in the process. Some of the transit zones 3. Trujillo, S. et al. Front. Psychol. 8, 510 (2017). retired shopkeeper. He remembers hearing where FARC members were required to 4. Tobón, C. et al. Soc. Neurosci. 10, 153–165 regular gunfire right outside his door as the live for a time still have no running water (2015).

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CORRECTION The News Feature ‘After the violence’ (Nature 557, 19–24; 2018) erroneously stated that Colombia’s reincorporation efforts would cost 129.5 billion pesos (US$46 million). Actually, they would cost 129.5 trillion pesos (US$46 billion).