Colombia's fighters become coffee farmers

Fighters choose coffee not guns - 23rd May 2022

Fighters from Colombia's long war are now producing coffee. And it's high quality. Their newest coffee's called 'Tropics – Fruits of Hope'. It's made by over a thousand men and women who stopped fighting in 2016, when the war ended.

Now, a former fighter has brought this coffee to the London Coffee Festival. One of their coffees was given an important prize in 2019, and they're hoping to win another.

The war in Colombia lasted around 50 years and 260,000 people died. It was a civil war between a rebel army and the government. But the Colombian government's now running a special programme. It's helping around 13,000 rebel fighters to return to normal life.

It's working because it also involves local people. Now the former jungle fighters are working in different businesses, such as coffee, beer and clothes. And these ex-soldiers are open about their past.

Many of their products' names come from their experiences. 'Fruits of Hope' celebrates five years since the end of the war.

Antonio Pardo, the coffee grower who's in London, became a rebel soldier as an 18 year old student. But he and most of the rebel fighters were pleased when the war stopped. They understood that their country needed peace.