Colombia: Hundreds of schoolchildren march to stop the bullets in their school

More than a hundred bullet holes remind us of the last time the school was caught in the crossfire. Tired of war in the southwest Colombiahundreds of children and residents marched this Wednesday to demand peace and the right to study.

The shooting began on the night of September 5 due to clashes between dissidents of the former guerrilla of the FARC and military, which left two soldiers injured. With daylight, the teachers counted and marked with a marker 145 bullet holes on the walls of the school, next to a police station.

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“(I feel) a lot of helplessness, fear and sadness. It’s like you’re leaving your own home, your dreams (…) They damaged the dreams of 400″students, Sara Díaz, 14, told AFP.

Students and locals against violence after the José María Obando school was hit by gunfire between the Police and FARC dissidents in Corinto, Cauca department, on September 13, 2023. (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP) (JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/)

The ninth grade student marched alongside hundreds of students, teachers and parents of the José María Obando schoolin the municipality of Maroon. A rural town in the department of Caucatwo hours from the city of Cali (southwest).

Holding white flags and signs with messages of peace, the students took a tour of approximately 30 minutes.

In that town, in the last month there have been multiple confrontations between illegal armed groups and the public force.

After the shooting a week ago, the children have not returned to classes in this town of about 30,000 inhabitants, at the foot of the central Colombian mountain range.

Right to study

Despite the signing of the peace agreement in 2016 with the then powerful FARC guerrillathe armed conflict persists in the country after six decades of internal war.

The bulk of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) laid down their weapons, but dissident groups broke away from the historic pact and today number about 5,200 combatants.

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“It has been more than 20 years in which we have been left in the middle of a conflict where our students are not involved, but we are being directly affected“, said Angela Maria Henao45 years old and principal of the school where 448 children and adolescents study.

The walls of Corinth are full of phrases alluding to dissidence.

“Dagoberto Ramos Front FARC-EP“, reads a sign on a post with the photograph of the dejected rebel leader Raúl Reyes, then number two of the now dissolved FARC guerrilla. He died in 2008 in Ecuadorian territory during a bombing that caused a break in diplomatic relations between Bogota and Quito.

Dressed in white, hundreds marched to “ask for the right to education and respect for life”Henao explained.

“Absurd war”

The first left-wing president in the country’s history, Gustavo Petro, attempts a negotiated solution to the conflict through negotiations with all illegal organizations. The war has left more than a million dead and more than 8 million displaced.

Corinth suffers from time to time the ravages of violence. The school principal assured that with the recent clashes, materials and equipment such as televisions, air conditioning, boards, seats and notebooks were lost.

“We were forced to retreat to another headquarters to safeguard their lives.”he added.

Johanna Sepulvedapresident of the school’s parent board, assured that they feel “orphans”.

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“The education and right to life of our children are being violated in a war that is not ours“, held.

Dissidents hide in the mountains that surround Corinth and, when there are clashes, bullets fall from the hills.

“Let them leave us out of this absurd war”Sepúlveda insisted.

Source: Elcomercio