Colombia’s FARC rebels prepare for peace

Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia live in camps along rivers, where they can cook and bathe. In the background, a FARC member carries a knife after cutting meat.

Feiber, who has been with the guerilla movement for 18 years, trims his hair once a week.

FARC member David, 33, lost his arm when he was shot six times in 2010. He says he’s hopeful the rebels can make the transition into a political party: “I lost all this ... I will be here to the end.”

Women make up a large share of the FARC force. In the past, female fighters who had babies weren’t allowed to keep them, so most were raised by relatives.

A Kate Moss T-shirt dries on a clothesline alongside a FARC uniform in Colombia’s Yari Plains, a key rebel stronghold.

A FARC member who has lost his hands arrives at the Yari Plains conference, where the future of the organization will be determined. Many of the fighters have physical disabilities from gunshot wounds or mine explosions.

Two FARC members walk from the conference site toward their camp, in the trees below.

Over 200 FARC commanders and hundreds of soldiers gathered to discuss the movement’s future at their final national conference as an armed group.

FARC members with guitarist Pablo Araoz of the Bogota reggae group Alerta Kamarad on the first night of the conference. It was the first concert some FARC members and residents had ever experienced.