Dora took Mélida’s FARC history in stride. “My daughter is married to a policeman; another is with a soldier,” she said. “Javier is with an ex-guerrilla. The only thing we’re missing in this family is a paramilitary.”

One day Mélida’s birth control implant failed and she became pregnant.

Dora pulled Mélida aside. “I told her, ‘Now you have something to fight for that’s not the revolution.’ ”

Her daughter, Celeste, was born last year.

The daily tasks of motherhood consumed Mélida for weeks. But the anger remained.

“She told me she was raised for war, not to care, not to be a lover,” Javier said. “She would tell me, ‘I love you, but understand my life hasn’t been easy.’ ”

One day, Javier returned to find that Mélida and the baby were gone.

Days before, Mélida had mentioned returning to rebel territory to see her sister, but now Javier thought it was a ruse to return to the FARC fold.

It wasn’t the case. Instead, her bus had been stopped at a checkpoint by rebels who questioned each of the passengers.

“I thought they would catch me again,” said Mélida, who realized then she did not want to go back, at least not that day.