Abstract
<jats:p>This book reconstructs, from a narrative, legal, and phenomenological approach, the experiences of military personnel who were victims of kidnapping during the Colombian armed conflict. It aims to make their stories visible as contributions to historical memory, symbolic reparation, and a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, in response to the persistent invisibilization of these victims in official and academic discourses. Kidnapping, used as a systematic strategy of war, deeply affected soldiers, their families, and institutions. The work is organized around three axes: (i) a legal analysis that examines kidnapping as a crime under domestic law and as a war crime and crime against humanity under International Law; (ii) a narrative–discursive approach that explains how testimonies construct meaning, identity, and resilience after trauma; and (iii) an empirical section based on life stories that reveals the emotional, social, and family impact of captivity, including a sociolegal reading from a gender perspective. The findings show differentiated impacts, such as the breakdown of family ties, stigmatization, persistent trauma, and inadequate institutional responses. They also demonstrate that narrating pain becomes an act of symbolic reparation. The book concludes that peace and transitional justice require fully recognizing military personnel as victims and guaranteeing differentiated and transformative reparation mechanisms.</jats:p>