“Soldiers can be clowns,” a Colombian general observed to me in an interview, explaining why Colombian soldiers have donned face paint and rubber noses, “and this is one way to create a love of country in children.” In the wake of the 2016 demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the military has taken on new missions to repair the reputation of their institution. The armed conflict between the government and the FARC began in 1964, claimed the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians, and left virtually no country in the Americas untouched, as the FARC increasingly involved itself in the cocaine trade over the years. The conflict has seen severe blows dealt to the army’s reputation, leading to soldiers’ taking part in these specialized “circuses.”
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