Colombia has not been indifferent to the use of violence by the armed actors and those who are subject to it. Any company aimed to characterize the Colombian armed conflict is not immune from controversy whether for the approach it uses, the prevalence of some facts over others or for the political interpretation of the events. Different readings of the armed conflict respond to a context and a reality determined by the vicissitudes of political, economic and social interests of each of the confronted parties (and of the society in general). They create a necessary framework to understand the analytic evolution of the armed conflict approach in regards to the treatment of the involved actors and to the policies designed to its intervention.