Colombia entered into an extended political crisis in 1995, after Samper was accused of accepting almost $6 million in campaign contributions from drug traffickers in exchange for leniency during any criminal proceedings for drug-related crimes. Although government prosecutors later claimed to have confirmed the contributions, Samper consistently said that he did not knowingly receive any drug money, and he refused to step down from the presidency. Samper declared a 90-day state of emergency in August 1995, ostensibly to battle organized crime and terrorist violence, but many Colombians saw the move as an attempt to divert attention away from the growing political scandal.
In January 1996 Samper’s former defense minister claimed that the president had solicited and knowingly accepted campaign contributions from drug traffickers. Samper convened a special session of Congress later that month to initiate an investigation that would consider the accusations against him. Colombia’s chief prosecutor formally indicted Samper in February 1996, charging the president with the crimes of illegal enrichment, electoral fraud, falsifying documents, and coverup. The indictments were seen as the initial steps in what could become a formal congressional impeachment of the president. In June Congress cleared Samper of all charges of wrongdoing, but later a Colombian court convicted two of the president’s associates of funneling drug money into Samper’s campaign.
In March 1996 the U.S. government criticized Colombia’s effort in the ongoing drug war, claiming that the country was uncooperative in international efforts to combat drug production and distribution. The United States “decertified” Colombia in the anti-drug campaign, disqualifying the country from receiving most forms of U.S. economic assistance in 1996 and again in 1997. The U.S. government again recertified Colombia as an ally in the war on drugs in 1998.
Samper’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.