CONVIVIR (an acronym for Servicios Especiales de Vigilancia y Seguridad Privada ("Special vigilance and private security services") that means "Vivir en armonía" in Spanish) 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.