[1] The military selected nine 75-foot trees along paths the insurgents used and decorated them with Christmas lights and a message encouraging them to come home.
The operation was deemed a success; 331 guerrillas demobilized while the campaign was active, a 30% increase from the previous year.
Since the early 1980s, the government has been engaged in sporadic peace talks, convincing such groups as the EPL and the EPR to demobilize.
Colombia's National Ministry of Defence worked with an advertising agency to research the lives of former guerrillas and to understand why they had joined FARC and what the conditions were like in the jungle.
Using the Colombian Army Radio Service, people across the country with a friend or relative who was a guerrilla were encouraged to write them a Christmas letter.