Acero Froián

I did this painting because of an operation we carried out in an area called Las Lajas, between San Juanito, Meta, and the border with the Department of Tolima.

There were 5 FARC fronts, we went down the side of the mountain.

The guerrilla had placed a wooden ladder made of tree branches, and the commander said: “Be careful boys, look around you…” I would say about 14 or 15 companions made it down. The kid Acero Froilan was among those 15 companions. He was the radio operator. He was the only one carrying something and when he put his foot on one of the wooden steps of the ladder built by the guerrilla, he lost his balance, and was not able to step down where we had all stepped down, but rather his foot landed where the land mine was. Everything from his waist down blew up! He even lost his testicles and both his legs.

The only thing he kept on saying was… I can’t feel my legs, can’t feel my legs… As the saying goes, we couldn’t even find his boots.