er's government also encountered difficulties controlling the armed factions within Colombia. The nation's military was unable to contain violence perpetrated by left-wing guerillas or right-wing paramilitary forces. In August 1996 paramilitary police killed two farmers and wounded 26 other people during a protest in the southern region of Putumayo. At the end of August leftwing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed 80 soldiers and police in ten separate incidents. In November and December anti-guerilla vigilante groups killed 73 people suspected of being guerilla sympathizers. During 1997 guerillas sporadically attacked remote government outposts. They launched a campaign of violence and intimidation in October aimed at preventing voters from participating in municipal and regional elections. Paramilitary squads launched a counter-campaign of violence, raiding a number of villages and executing individuals suspected of supporting guerilla activities. In March 1998 FARC forces ambushed elite government troops in a remote southern jungle region, killing about 70 soldiers in the worst government defeat in the 35 years since guerilla hostilities began. Government sources estimated that more than 41,000 Colombians-mostly poor farmers-fled their homes to escape the growing violence between guerillas and paramilitary units. The government and Colombia's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN) agreed in early 1998 to open peace negotiations. However, the future of negotiations remained questionable following the death in February of 62-year-old ELN leader Manuel Perez, a former priest who had led the rebel group for 25 years....
