Confessions to intimate violence: FARC testimonies to sexual violations in the Colombian conflict

Abstract

This article examines a rare event: confessions to “intimate” acts of sexual violence by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Using a dramaturgical approach, it explores the transformation of “confessional acts” from silence and denial to excuses to eventual remorse and condemnation. It explains the shifts in the FARC’s narratives (scripts) in terms of who performed them (actors), when and where (stage and timing), audiences’ reactions, and the role of directors (FARC leaders). The article uses the unique FARC case to consider how confessional acts can break global patterns of denial and silence around sexual violence in armed conflicts. As sexual violence lacks heroic or military justification and has the potential to harm armed groups’ image, it is logical that leaders would attempt to manage what is said. Audiences comprised of the FARC’s opponents, former combatants, victim-survivors, and enemies influenced scripts. On alternative stages, new narratives acknowledged sexual violence and acceptance of responsibility for it. Over time, leaders lost directorial control over the original denial performance. Understanding this dramatic and contentious process, the article contends, holds the potential for helping to build a strong norm–shared by all sides of Colombia’s polarized post-war society–to condemn sexual violation whenever it occurs and whoever is involved.