[56] In 1998, Human Rights Watch stated that "we have received credible information that indicated that the CONVIVIR groups of the Middle Magdalena and of the southern Cesar regions were directed by known paramilitaries and had threatened to assassinate Colombians that were considered as guerrilla sympathizers or which rejected joining the cooperative groups". [8], The first legal framework for the training of civilians by military or police forces for security purposes was formally established by the Colombian presidential decree 3398 of 1965, issued during a state of siege, which defined the defense of the nation as requiring "the organization and tasking of all of the residents of the country and its natural resources...to guarantee National Independence and institutional stability. [127] There is evidence that right-wing paramilitaries were hired by Drummond to guard the rail lines. Existen estimativos que contemplan hasta 414 grupos y, según el presidente de la Federación Nacional de Asociaciones de CONVIVIR Carlos Alberto Díaz, a diciembre de 1997 había más de 120.000 miembros de las CONVIVIR en Colombia. [92] In 2005, Amnesty International stated that "the vast majority of non-combat politically-motivated killings, disappearances, and cases of torture have been carried out by army-backed paramilitaries". [35]​ Los asesinatos de miembros de la UP llevaron a la desaparición del movimiento. Víctor Manuel Mejía Múnera a.k.a. [35] Many of the CONVIVIR groups simply joined up with the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).

[112][113], Paramilitary groups, often with the support of local merchants, the Colombian military, and local police, have engaged in extensive "social cleansing" operations against homeless people, drug addicts, orphaned children, and other people they deem socially "undesirable". [11] These committees were to maintain contact with local military officers, keeping a high level awareness about any suspicious communist action in their communities, in particular those of suspected "guerrilla supporters".

Buena parte de la financiación de las AUC provenía del tráfico de drogas, de armas y en el contrabando. [125], In the late 1980s, Alabama-based Drummond Coal began to expand into new markets, due to the deregulation of global capital. • Peace process (2012–present) : Obstacles to Justice for Paramilitary Mafias in Colombia, Paramilitaries’ Heirs: The New Face of Violence in Colombia, Colombia: Barrancabermeja: A city under siege, "The Other Half of the Truth: Searching for Truth, Justice, and Reparations for Colombia's Victims of Paramilitary Violence", UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - Colombia 2005 Report, "Paramilitaries Don't Want to Take the Blame Alone", "Same Paramilitary Abuses; New Faces, New Names", "Mancuso dio una lucha que hemos debido dar todos los cordobeses", "Money Laundering & Murder in Colombia: Official Documents Point to DEA Complicity", "Paramilitaries and Mining Companies in Colombia", "Oil-Palm Plantations on Afro-Colombian Lands", "BP pays out millions to Colombian farmers", "Colombia's Deep Divide (June 12, 2006 issue)", "Leaked Memo: Corrupt DEA Agents in Colombia Help Narcos and Paramilitaries", "Doing the US's Dirty Work: The Colombian Paramilitaries and Israel", Center for International Policy - Colombia Program, Who are the victims?

[96][97], Paramilitary abuses in Colombia are often classified as atrocities due to the brutality of their methods, including the torture, rape, incineration, decapitation and mutilation with chainsaws or machetes of dozens of their victims at a time, affecting civilians, women and children.

• Plan Colombia The plaintiffs alleged that Coca-Cola bottlers "contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained, or otherwise silenced trade union leaders." By 1982, cocaine surpassed coffee as a national export, making up 30% of all Colombian exports. [93] The Colombian Commission of Jurists reported that, in the year 2000, approximately 85% of political murders were committed by the paramilitaries and state forces. Sin embargo, el 20 de febrero de 2012 el exguerrillero alias 'Olivo Saldaña' declaró en audiencia pública que él fue quien engañó a Luis Carlos Restrepo y a las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia al inflar el número de desmovilizados del Bloque 'Cacica La Gaitana' [74]​ y se responsabilizó de haber infiltrado a falsos paramilitares en la desmovilización. "[4][5][6], The new counter-insurgency policy was instituted as Plan Lazo in 1962 and called for both military operations and civic action programs in violent areas. • Colombia–United States relations El Mellizo  †