It is historically rooted in the conflict known as La Violencia, which was triggered by the 1948 assassination of populist political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, and in the aftermath of United States-backed strong anti-communism repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s that led Liberal and Communist militants to re-organize into FARC. In February 2008, millions of Colombians demonstrated against the FARC. 26,648 FARC and ELN combatants have decided to demobilize since 2002. During these years the military forces of the Republic of Colombia managed to be strengthened.