The Colonel

The colonel is an unnamed high-ranking official in what we learn is a military-style government somewhere in a Spanish-speaking country. It seems likely that country is El Salvador, since the poet spent time there as a journalist, and the details about the colonel outlined in the poem are also consistent with what history tells us happened in El Salvador during a brutal civil war.

In the poem, the colonel is living a privileged life of luxury, while outside his guarded walls terrible atrocities are being inflicted upon the populous. While early on in the poem the colonel seems to be a welcoming host, it becomes increasingly clear that he is, at least in part, responsible for those atrocities going on in his country. Furthermore, he is an active participant in them, which becomes clear when he dumps a sack of human ears on the dining room table...