Colombian Guerrilla Movement FARC Denies Alleged Forced Abortion
Guerrilla movement FARC denied their connection to a man being investigated by the Colombian government for allegedly carrying out forced abortions on female members. The rebel group insisted that having such policy is not part, and against, their principles.
The man being investigated is Hector Albeidis Arboleda Buitrago, a nurse working in Madrid, who was taken into custody by Spanish authorities last December. He was accused of performing most of the abortions on female guerrillas, per BBC News.
Buitrago is known as "The Nurse," who allegedly forced aborted at least 150 babies in the Colombian jungle from 1998 to 2000, including 50 young girls raped by the rebels. He is wanted by Interpol for multiple counts of aggravated torture, non-consensual abortion and criminal conspiracy.
However, he was released by the authorities after some precautionary measures were taken. The 40-year-old nurse is still being investigated by the Colombian Attorney General's Office headed by Atty. Eduardo Montealegre.
"We have evidence to prove that forced abortion was a policy of the FARC that was based on forcing a female fighter to abort so as not to lose her as an instrument of war," Montealegre said. A former female rebel confessed in Bogota that she was forced to have five abortions before leaving the group.
Women in the group were expected to fight, so abortions are a must to be able to keep their fighting abilities and not become a liability in battle. There a few female fighters who were lucky enough to be allowed to have their babies.
According to FOX News, FARC has already issued a statement regarding the accusations via the FARC-EP Joint Chiefs of Staff Secretariat, saying that they have no policy that forces pregnant guerrilla members to have abortions. They added that contraception is available inside their group and calls the entire controversy as a "judicial and media set up."
The group has continued to deny the claims, also calling the accusations of raping women and using dead guerrillas in their anatomy classes "false and shameful." FARC has about 8,000 current members, 2,500 of whom are women.
The guerrilla movement was formed in 1964 with the main goal to create a Marxist regime in Colombia. They once controlled about 40,000 square kilometers of the country, but the group suffered a lot of problems in recent years.
About 220,000 people, in which majority are civilians, have already been killed in the 50-year conflict. The Colombian government and FARC leaders held peace talks in Oslo, Norway back in 2012 after signing a preliminary agreement in Havana, Cuba.
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