‘The Guilt Complex’: Assessing How Perceptions of Guilt Impact Reintegration Experiences of Young Returnees from the FARC Across Colombia

Abstract

This paper examines the first-hand narratives of young people who were former combatants of the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo) in Colombia and demobilised after signing the 2016 Peace Agreement. It seeks to understand how perceptions of guilt among young returnees at institutional, individual and social levels shape their reintegration experiences. Through case studies undertaken across four cities in Colombia - Valledupar (Cesar), Medellín (Antioquia), Arauca and Bogotá - this paper contends that unresolved individual and socially inflicted guilt can impede positive reintegration into communities. Nearly a decade since the peace agreement, reintegration experiences of young returnees, including their perceptions of guilt, are conditioned by the specific context within Colombia that they originated from, as well as the environment to which they returned. Additionally, youth who were formerly a member of the FARC continue to hold the values and ideologies of the group post release. Such acquired value systems influence young people’s justifications not only for their past actions but also their present dispositions and understanding of the return and reintegration process itself.

Correction Note:

Two co-authors have been edited to this manuscript post publication. The modification in authorship is reflective of their substantial academic contribution and guidance in developing this research article, which is part of a PhD thesis project supervised by them.