CONVIVIR, an acronym for Servicios Especiales de Vigilancia y Seguridad Privada was a national program of cooperative neighbourhood watch groups created by a February 11, 1994 decree of Colombia's Ministry of National Defense and a law passed in the Colombian Congress, in response to growing guerrilla activity. Authorized during the government of César Gaviria but mainly developed during the administration of Ernesto Samper (1994–1998), the CONVIVIR groups quickly became controversial as it was considered to represent something of a revival of the Law 48 of 1968.