The term paramilitary (and paramilitaries) covers a multitude of sins. First, all police forces but especially those with a SWAT capability are paramilitaries. In fact, the term was created to refer to forces like the French Gendarmerie and Italian Carbinieri.Second, the term refers to forces created by or sanctioned by the government, typically militias such as were the mainstay of the US military until the civil war. Good, relatively modern examples fro Latin America are theRondas Campesinas in Peru, the Defensa Civil in el Salvador, and the PACs in guatemala. A less benign variant is a paramilitary like ORDEN in pre-1979 el Salvador and similarly the Turbas Divinas in Sandinista Nicaragua. Finally, we come to groups like the AUC in Colombia whch were neither created by nor officially sanctioned by the government although they did often cooperate with the CO Army against the FARC.

My understanding of the demobilization of the AUC is that it was largely successful with respect to those paramilitaries that accepted the leadership of the AUC. However, a number of the "member" groups did not accept the authority of the AUC leadership and refused to disband, although, again, my understanding is that it was a minority within the AUC. Please note my qualified language in this paragraph as i am less sure of its accuracy compared to my first paragraph.

Cheers

JohnT