By Thin Lei Win
QUEBRACHAL, Colombia, Aug 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Pigs, papayas and peppers are helping seal the peace in Colombia as villagers return to the land after decades of war.
Eighteen years ago, armed men stormed Henry Brito’s village in lush, northern Colombia and forced everyone to flee with only a grab of belongings for comfort.
In 2012, Luis Amaya abandoned his pigs, driven out by days of relentless gunfire.
Two years later, Sofia Fernandez fled home in the dead of night, capitalising on a brief lull in fighting between the warring forces who had foisted her farm into the crossfire.
Three years ago, they all moved back.
And now the remote hills and valleys in the shadow of the Serrania del Perija mountain range, which straddles the northern border between Colombia and Venezuela, are a hub of small, community farm businesses that are pivotal to the new peace.
Exile had not suited all those who fled.
“We are people used to living in the country. We don’t like cities. It’s another world. So we decided to return, even if we have to face a lot of troubles,” Fernandez said.
A 2016 peace deal between the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels after half a century of fighting encouraged their return, they said, but the going was initially tough and safety far from a given.
They are now hoping that ambitious, government-led development plans – drawn up under the peace deal to support millions like them – would provide a secure future.
Initial signs are encouraging, they said.
