The mind of war: symbolic instruments of military ideology within the Colombian population in the armed conflict

Since the beginning of the Colombian armed conflict, ideology has been the main replicator to promote the fight between the actors in the conflict, the first actor in the conflict that began using ideology as an instrument of war was the guerrillas based on the different branches of the Communism, as a counterattack, the Colombian military forces began to use anti-communist speeches and propaganda to maintain the government structure, establishing it as the main base of the military ideology that would develop throughout the armed conflict. This thesis aims to study the military ideology from a historical perspective, seeing the changes from the beginning of the armed conflict until 2016, the date on which the peace process was signed with the oldest guerrilla group in Colombia, the FARC; with the objective of identifying symbolic instruments of military ideology used not only within the institution but also in Colombian society, analyzing interviews with military personnel and reviewing the Colombian press of the 20th and 21th centuries.