Miller has been in the Farc for more than 20 years. “We are willing to put our weapons down, but we are doing it because we have won the right to do so. We were forced to engage in the armed struggle because the political space had been closed. Now the door has been opened to do what we have always fought for: legal political participation, without being killed”.

Farc members gather close to the camp’s kitchen in the early morning to have breakfast. Faiber (second from the right) emphasises that demobilisation implies for them an enormous personal challenge. “Life in the bush can be hard, but it will be harder to get used to a world that is so foreign to us: life as a civilian”.

Farc members swim and wash clothes in a river close to a rebel camp in the Yari plains in the early evening. Every afternoon, in the hours following the conference sessions, voices could be heard coming from behind trees and inside the tents, as rebels discussed and shared notes taken during the meetings, and about the peace negotiations with the Colombian government.

Farc members swim and wash clothes in a river close to a rebel camp in the Yari plains in the early evening. Every afternoon, in the hours following the conference sessions, voices could be heard coming from behind trees and inside the tents, as rebels discussed and shared notes taken during the meetings, and about the peace negotiations with the Colombian government.

A couple of rebels take a nap at te rebel camp in the Yari plains during the 10th guerrilla conference celebrated in September 2016, ahead of the signing of the peace deal between the government and the rebel group.

Hundreds of plastic chairs for conference delegates are stored near a rebel camp in the Yari plains. Despite the logistical challenges of organizing an event this size in the fringes of the Amazon rainforest, the Farc were able to accommodate hundreds of fighters and journalists, and set up a media area and a huge outdoor stage for concerts and speeches.

Farc Commander in Chief Rodrigo Londoño, ‘Timochenko’, delivers the opening speech at the group’s 10th conference. “If anything has characterized us since our very birth, it is precisely our strictly political nature, based on the broadest democracy, with political, military and cultural guidelines weaved by all of its members”, he said, addressing more than 1000 delegates and journalists.

Farc members attend the opening ceremony of the group’s 10th conference. Most Farc soldiers come from the rural areas that have been most affected by the conflict.

A couple of rebels share a moment together after the opening ceremony of the group's conference.

Since the content of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Farc was announced in Havana in late August, the atmosphere at the camps is unusually relaxed, and Farc members are spending more time relaxing and discussing the details of the agreement than training and hiding from the army.

Since the content of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Farc was announced in Havana in late August, the atmosphere at the camps is unusually relaxed, and Farc members are spending more time relaxing and discussing the details of the agreement than training and hiding from the army.

Farc members line up for a commander at the end of the afternoon, as they receive instructions on the Conference’s proceedings for the next day.

After being close to 20,000 12 years ago, it is estimated that Farc has now approximately 7,000 members. Many have demobilised, and most of the current members are willing to do it once the peace deal is finalised and the conditions stated in it are guaranteed. Only the organization’s 1st front has refused to demobilise, arguing that the peace agreement does not include a change in the country’s economic model.

Roosevelt Jiménez lost his hands in 2010 while he was manipulating explosives in preparation of an ambush against a Colombian army convoy. He was 18 years old. Since peace dialogues between Farc and the Colombian government began in Havana, he trained himself as a photographer and he is now part of the group’s communication team.

Most of the rebels at the camps come from rural areas and many entered the group as teenagers. Shirley is 26 and has spent half of her life as a Farc member. “We all come from poor, difficult backgrounds, from areas where there are no opportunities”, she says. “When you start growing up you see the Farc as an alternative to develop as a human being. To be honest, it is only later that you discover its ideological meaning, when you start studying about politics and socialism, about the social reality of this country, and you start being absorbed by the revolutionary life. And only later on you realise that you will have to shoot a weapon”.

Paola grew up in a communist party stronghold in the department of Meta, and joined the Farc when she was 12 years old. “I don’t even remember the outside world. But after everything we’ve learned, and all the experience we’ve gathered during all these years of fighting, hiding and living in the jungle, I am not afraid of facing a new beginning”.

A female Farc fighter stands at the entrance of the rebel group's camp in the Yari plains. It is estimated that abut 30 per cent of the 7000 Farc soldiers, are women.

Two female Farc members cross paths during lunch time at the rebel camp in the Yari plains.

Hundreds of plastic chairs for conference delegates are stored near a rebel camp in the Yari plains. Despite the logistical challenges of organizing an event of this nature in the fringes of the Amazon rainforest, the Farc were able to accommodate hundreds of fighters and journalists, and set up a media area and an outdoor stage for concerts and speeches.

Farc Commander in Chief Rodrigo Londoño, ‘Timochenko’, attends a cultural event during the Farc’s last conference in the Yari Plains. “If anything has characterized us since our very birth, it is precisely our strictly political nature, based on the broadest democracy, with political, military and cultural guidelines weaved by all of its members”, he said during the opening speech of the conference, addressing more than 1000 delegates and journalists.

Members of Farc dance during one of the concerts that closed every evening the conference sessions. Relatives of guerrilla fighters saw the conference as an opportunity to find their long gone family members, and travelled to the Yari plains with an old ID photograph and their civilian name written in a piece of paper. The end of these cultural events was often the setting for emotional scenes of rebels holding their mothers, sisters, brothers, for the first time in years.

The sun sets over the Yari plains, where the Farc celebrated their 10th rebel conference in September 2016 ahead of the signing of the peace deal, an area that for decades has witnessed clashes between the guerrillas, the national army and paramilitary groups.

During the demobilisation process, Farc members will concentrate in temporary transition zones monitored by the United Nations. “Our demobilization will not be the end of our struggle”, says Martin, a Farc media officer. “But we realise that the conditions of the country and of the conflict have changed, and that our struggle will be more effective from the political arena”.