What kind of war is going on in the country where Hernando Tellez's story "Just Lather, That's All" takes place?

Unfortunately, given the subject matter, Hernando Tellez's short story "Just Lather, That's All" could have taken place in any one of several Latin American nations during the 20th century. Such was the scale of political violence throughout Central and parts of South America during much of the previous century that there is a certain universality to Tellez's plot. The reader knows only two things: the story takes place in a small town, and the author...

Unfortunately, given the subject matter, Hernando Tellez's short story "Just Lather, That's All" could have taken place in any one of several Latin American nations during the 20th century. Such was the scale of political violence throughout Central and parts of South America during much of the previous century that there is a certain universality to Tellez's plot. The reader knows only two things: the story takes place in a small town, and the author was Colombian. The first bit of insight--that the story occurs in a small town--is suggested by the details Tellez provided, such as the narrator's reference to himself as "the town barber." The second bit of information could, logically, lead one to conclude that Tellez placed his story in his own country. Colombia's past is virtually synonymous with violence, whether political in nature or tied to the country's history of drug production and trafficking. Rebel armies have long been a mainstay of Colombian society, and the character of Captain Torres and the rebel army he is fighting, and to which the barber/narrator belongs, could very easily be Colombian.

The universality of Just Lather, That's All does complicate any effort at identifying a specific location for the story. The exact same story could have emanated from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, or Bolivia. The author's heritage, however, leads one to conclude that the setting is a small fictional town in his native Colombia. The levels of violence common to Colombia during Tellez's life would certainly have provided sufficient inspiration that conflicts in neighboring countries would not have been necessary as events from which to draw such inspiration. The precise town, however, is not specified, and could represent any of hundreds of such towns scattered throughout Colombia.