Bodyguards for Farc ex-rebels ditching guns for ballot box

FOR 14 years, Isabela Sanroque worked to bring down the Colombian political establishment using guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare.

These days, the former rebel commander is fighting to be accepted into the corridors of power, only the “vote Farc” badge in her lapel outwardly betraying signs of her past.

Ms Sanroque, 33, is one of 74 former Farc rebels to run in tomorrow’s congressional elections.

Although the peace deal grants the group – now known as the Alternative Revolutionary Force for the Common People – an automatic 10 seats in congress, the elections mark the party’s first test with the electorate.

But candidates have been egged and booed and Ms Sanroque walks around with two bodyguards, and says she feels under constant threat.

This is perhaps unsurprising, given the bloody legacy of the conflict between the rebels and the government, in which more than 220,000 were killed and millions displaced.

Rodrigo Londoño, the party leader, was forced to pull out of May’s presidential race this week after undergoing heart surgery, but even before then polls showed him garnering less than 2 per cent of the vote.

“The reality in a country that’s so polarised, so full of hate, is it’s not easy,” Ms Sanroque said. She knows the party faces an uphill battle but still, she believes they have a lot to offer.

Many Colombians remain sceptical. “It’s good that they have gone into politics but I don’t think they are going to do well,” said Andres Perez, 43, a commercial real estate worker.