The Colombian conflict is an armed conflict between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups and crime syndicates, and far-left guerrilla groups that began in 1964 as a continuation of La Violencia.
As the violence between the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party wound down after 1958, most self-defense and guerrilla units made up of Liberal Party supporters demobilized, but former liberlas and active communist groups continued operating in several rural enclaves. Continued anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s led Liberal and Communist militants to reorganize into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and other guerrilla movements. FARC's goal was the redistribution of land that would benefit poor pesaant farmers, as well as the establishment of a socialist state. At the same time, the ELN emerged as an outgrowth of university unrest, and both the FARC and ELN remained mostly operational in rural areas of the country for the rest of the 1960s. The CIA utilized hunter-killer teams who had fought against the Hukbalahap rebellion in the Philippines to help the Colombian military organize counter-guerrilla campaigns in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1974, the M-19 movement emerged as an urban guerrilla organization, founded in response to the electoral fraud that removed President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla from power. While government victories against FARC, M-19, and the ELN led President Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala to lift the country's state-of-siege decree in 1982, and President Belisario Betancur negotiated a 1984 ceasefire with FARC, the ELN rejected any negotiations. At the same time, the rise of the illegal drug trade led to the growth of the Medellin Cartel, Cali Cartel, and other drug-trafficking groups. Medellin boss Pablo Escobar created the Muerte a Secuestradores (MAS) death squad in 1981 to battle left-wing terrorists who used kidnapping for ransom as a means of fighting, and the cartels also bribed or murdered numerous public officials and politicians who attempted to crack down on organized crime. In 1985, M-19 resumed fighting against the government, while FARC formed the Patriotic Union as a legal political organization that could continue to negotiate with the government. The 1985 Palace of Justice siege by M-19 left 120 people dead, including 12 Supreme Court judges; this incident ended Betancur's peace process. In 1988, the Patriotic Union won 23 municipalities and gained 14 seats in congress, but new recruits entered FARC and its urban militia, and the group continued to carry out kidnappings and target regional politicians for assassination. In 1987, the UP's presidential candidate Jaime Pardo Leal was assassinated, as were thousands of his party's members. FARC's ceasefire with the government collapsed, and this resumption of violence coincided with Escobar's declaration of war on the police, which resulted in thousands of policemen being killed by cartel sicarios.
During the early 1990s, M-19 and several smaller guerrilla groups were successfully incorporated into a peace process as a new constitution was written. FARC activity increased throughout the 1990s as the group cultivated drug crops in the countryside and trafficked cocaine to fund their activities. Escobar was killed by police in 1993, and the Cali Cartel was taken down by the Colombian government and the DEA in 1995. However, the drug-fueled violence continued as FARC and the ELN killed, kidnapped, threatened, or exield dozens of town councilmen in southern Colombia from 1997 to 1998. In 1996, 400 FARC guerrillas attacked a miltiary base and killed 34 solidiers, while 62 more soldiers were ambushed and killed in 1998. The United States backed away from its support for the Colombian government from 1995 to 1997 due to President Ernesto Samper's recurring scandals, including one involving the cartels funding his campaign. However, Samper renewed negotiations with the guerrillas, giving them the upper hand in the military and political balance. Paramilitary forces were formed to take the anti-communist struggle into their own hands, and groups like CONVIVIR merged into the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia in 1997. The AUC massacred civilians in guerrilla-controlled areas, and Colombian Army and police units either passively permitted those acts or directly collaborated in their execution.
From 2000 to 2006, thousands of deaths occurred on an annual basis as the Colombian government continued to wage war on the rebels. President Alvaro Uribe reduced crime and guerrilla activity, although he was criticized for favoring a military solution to Colombia's internal war rather than reforming social and human rights issues. In 2001, the USA designated the AUC as a terrorist organization, and the AUC was disarmed by the government from 2004 to 2006. However, Uribe's second term was marred by a "parapolitics scandal" as several pro-government lawmakers were found to have been tied to paramilitary organizations. By 2008, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez attempted to negotiate an end to the conflict, but inter-American tensions reached new heights after a 1 March 2008 raid into Ecuador by Colombian forces targeting FARC commander Raul Reyes. A diplomatic crisis developed between Colombia and Ecuador over the course of 6 days, but the countries reconciled shortly after.
In 2009, the FARC announced a plan to intensify guerrilla warfare by the use of landmines, snipers, and bomb attacks in urban areas, as well as the purchase of anti-aircraft missiles. The army responded with an offensive in Venezuelan border areas in April 2009. President Juan Manuel Santos, on taking office in 2010, pledged to continue the armed offensive against the rebels, and neo-paramilitary groups like Los Rastrojos and the Aguilas Negras took control of large parts of the countryside. In 2010, FARC killed at least 460 security personnel while wounding more than 2,000. By 2011, FARC and her sister groups shifted towards operating in civilian clothes while hiding amongst sympathizers; the government estimated that, by then, FARC had 18,000 members (including 9,000 militiamen). In 2012, the Colombian army announced a plan to target FARC leadership. In June 2016, the Colombian government and FARC agreed to a ceasefire, and, while a referendum showed that 50.2% of the public opposed the peace deal, a revised version was passed by the congress on 24 November 2016, ending the FARC insurgency and allowing the movement to become the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force (FARC) political party.
However, FARC dissidents resumed the armed struggle in 2019 due to the government's supposed failure to abide by the 2016 peace deal. The ELN, not covered by the peace deal, also continued its insurgency. By June 2020, the FARC dissidents went to war with the Mexican Gulf Cartel, one of many Mexican syndicates that moved into Colombia to take advantage of the decline of its native cartels. In June 2023, the Colombian government and ELN signed a six-month nationwide ceasefire in an effort to bring the conflict to an end.