Former Colombian rebels and soldiers work together to exhume remains, give families closure

Relatives of victims of forced disappearance walk next to newly built ossuaries, part of a reparation initiative with former FARC combatants and retired Colombian soldiers who helped exhume unidentified remains believed to be conflict victims, at the Central Cemetery, in Palmira, Colombia August 27, 2025. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita

PALMIRA, Colombia (Reuters) -For nearly a year the ex-rebels worked shoulder to shoulder with their former enemies - retired soldiers from the Colombian military - in a place that viscerally expresses the toll of Colombia's six decades of conflict: a cemetery.

The former combatants helped exhume unidentified remains believed to belong to conflict victims and then refurbished this corner of the cemetery in Palmira, in western Colombia, building new ossuaries and a tiny chapel.