Zenaida Rueda, a former member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), waves to journalists after a media conference in which she discussed her escape from the terrorist group last year. (Mauricio Duenas/AFP/Getty Images)

BOGOTÁ, Colombia – At 16, Euclides Ramírez joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – as a last resort.

He didn’t have a steady job and lived with his parents in the very poor neighborhood of San Rafael, in the department of Antioquia in central Colombia.

“The [FARC] guerrillas were always in the area,” he said. “They woke up with us and went to bed with us. We had no option but to join their ranks.”

It was nothing new to Ramírez, who a decade earlier watched his four older brothers walk out of their home and into the FARC’s waiting arms. When Ramírez grew older, the terrorist group recruited him, offering his parents a monthly stipend of $400,000 Colombian pesos (US$200) for their son’s services.

So he headed to the jungle – the worst decision of his life.

His parents didn’t receive a single peso – just the news that two of their sons had been fatally shot in combat.

“I was enslaved by the rifle,” Ramírez said. “We were told that it didn’t matter if a guerrilla fighter was lost, what must not be lost was the rifle itself.”

Ramírez lived in constant fear of his commanding officers, as any kind of mistake led to their threatening to put him before a firing squad. His mind was filled with negative talk about the government, and his fears became so strong he would rather die than be captured.

Ramírez was terrified about what the government would do to him in prison.

So Ramírez did the only thing he could: he fled.

For three months, he hid in the jungle, not willing to believe the government had granted amnesty for any guerrilla who leaves a terrorist group.

Four years later, Euclides Ramírez is no longer an armed guerrilla fighting his country.

He’s trying to be reintegrated into society through therapy. He lives in Sincelejo, a city in western Colombia, where he’s a motorcycle mechanic running his own business.

But his time in the FARC still is a part of him. He receives counseling to improve his self-esteem and emotional problems by professionals from the Restrepo Barco Foundation. The non-governmental organization treats 200 former guerrillas in Sincelejo and Corozal, in northern Colombia, through a joint agreement with the international organization for migrations and the office of the high advisor for [social and economic] reintegration.

Former guerrillas say it’s not an easy process, going from spending years in the lawless jungle to becoming a productive member of a society governed by rules. Each patient receives US$350,000 (US$185) from the government each month they are in the program, which can take up to six years, but that money pays for rent and not much else.

“Here, everything is on my shoulders, but I’m under nobody’s orders,” Ramírez said. “I make decisions and I have learned to value my own life. Before, I would think only of killing or of dying. Now I have been born again, even though the lack of housing makes our lives more difficult.”

Will Ramírez complete the rehabilitation process? If so, he’ll have to disprove seven years of data that doesn’t bode well.

Since 2002, about 50,000 guerrillas have been demobilized, but only about 12% have succeeded in reintegration into society. But 10% of those enrolled did not finish the program, as 5,088 have left the program voluntarily, according to Frank Pearl, the organization’s high advisor for reintegration.

“Reintegration works with the person who’s been demobilized, his family, and those communities to which he moves. We try to increase their capacity to support themselves, so they no longer depend on the government,” Pearl said. “This process lasts between four and six years and it is a peace strategy to dismantle warring groups. We invest in them and we assign a psychologist to counsel them and their families. It is obligatory for them to study, and with cultural and sports programs we try to prevent violence. We also tell them they are entitled to their full dignity, just like everybody else.”