YARI PLAINS, Colombia As a child growing up in south central Colombia, Roberto Mndez never had a chance to study beyond the first grade. From a young age, he was forced to work on coffee farms in the hills surrounding his home, where leftist guerrillas have ruled for decades.

Military sweeps of the region by the Colombian government often led to arbitrary arrests and abuses of civilians believed to cooperate with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Once, the owner of the farm where Mndez was working was dragged out of his home in the middle of the night. He never heard from him again.

I got angry, Mndez told The WorldPost. So I joined the FARC to fight back.

He was 20 when he joined and rose to become a squad commander. Now 29, Mndez said hes ready to give up his guns as part of a peace deal the FARC reached with the Colombian government, putting an end to Latin Americas longest-running war, which wracked the country for 52 years.