This is what it's like to spend 20 years as a guerrilla fighter in the jungle

Colombians celebrate their country's peace agreement between the government and FARC rebels
(Image credit: GUILLERMO LEGARIA/Getty Images)

Deadly fighting has raged in Colombia for 52 years, pitting the government in Bogotá against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) — but all that is about to change. The two sides signed a deal in August, instituted a cease-fire, and will put the peace agreement to a popular vote on Oct. 2. If the agreement is ratified, FARC guerrillas will be given six months to turn in their weapons and rejoin the broader society.

One of those guerrillas is 33-year-old Yurluey Mendoza, who spent the last two decades of her life fighting in the jungle and now is the subject of a striking profile at The Washington Post:

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.