The Guardian Weekly
Colombia's child landmine victims
Apr 23 -- Across Colombia thousands of civilians and members of the armed forces are injured and/or maimed by mines or improvised explosive device (IEDs) every year. The country's two main guerrilla groups, the ELN and FARC, are responsible for planting most of them.
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Farc has been known to use home-made IEDs costing $5 a go rather than imported landmines. At the privately owned Integral Rehabilitation Centre in Bogota, 17-year-old IED victim Jonathan Marin Blandon describes the moment his life was changed forever.
It was December 2004 when the accident happened. My brother and I had just finished collecting recyclable bottles and we decided to take a rest on a park bench in the town where I lived. I noticed what looked like a basketball in a plastic bag lying on the bench. I moved the bag along the bench to make space for us to sit down. Then there was a massive explosion, like a bomb or a big grenade going off. I was 12 years old at the time.
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