Men, women and children occupied eight schools and colleges and demanded negotia-tions with the government to settle their grievances and ensure a safe return to their lands. Compliance with the provisions of the agreement for a safe return, signed by representatives of President Andres Pastrana and the displaced, will be a test of the new government's commitment to alleviating the suffering of the forcibly displaced by violence and, more generally, to peace in Colombia. When he took office on August 7, President Pastrana inherited a country at war. Indeed, his inauguration took place amid the most concerted guerrilla offensive in recent years. And the number of internally displaced, often invisible vic-tims, is growing rapidly.
Petroleum is Colombia's most important revenue source.
Ecopetrol, the country's largest company, produces 73 percent of domestic gasoline consumption, while U.S. and U.K. petroleum companies have important extraction operations throughout Colombia. As of spring of last year, the ELN had conducted more than 630 attacks on oil pipelines. In the past few years, paramilitary groups have essentially surrounded the city, determined to wrest control of the territory from the guerrillas. The threats were not taken lightly. In August, as the dis-placed were arriving and just days after a government report linked the military to the May massacre, eight civilians were killed in a similar fashion.