and the government mainly in the Santander Department where he had his political niche. Serpa has always been in favor of a peacefully negotiated solution. During the government of Belisario Betancur, Serpa was invited to be a negotiator between the ELN guerrillas and was part of numerous peace commissions that never achieved successful results. During the government of Virgilio Barco, Serpa was appointed Minister of Government in which he collaborated in setting a demobilization timetable for the EPL, the PRT and the Quintín Lame Movement. In 1992 under the government of César Gaviria Serpa led the failed negotiation attempts with the ELN guerrillas in Tlaxcala, Mexico. During the government of Samper, Serpa intended to negotiate with the FARC guerrillas. The group asked for the demilitarization of La Uribe, Meta, a region in central Colombia, but were unsuccessful. Serpa opposed the CONVIVIR groups created by Fernando Botero, a group of self-defense groups intended to improve security in areas were the government couldn't reach. Despite his opposition the plan of the CONVIVIR was approved. He then traveled to Bonn, Germany, where the Colombian government and local government of Bonn were again trying to negotiate with the ELN guerrillas, but these peace talks also failed. Presidential campaign results for Serpa 1998 First round Horacio Serpa U. (Vice: María Emma Mejía): 3,647,007 (34.64%) Andrés Pastrana (Vice: Gustavo Bell): 3,613,278 (34.32%) Second round Andrés Pastrana: 6,086,507 (50.39%) Horacio Serpa: 5,620,719 (46.53%) 2002 Álvaro Uribe (Vice: Francisco Santos Calderón): 5.862.655 (53.048%) Horacio Serpa: (Vice: José Gregorio Hernández Galindo): 3.514.779 (31.803%) This election was won by Álvaro Uribe by a majority vote of half plus one vote, which according to the 1991 Constitution made a secondary election unnecessary. After these negative results for his political career Serpa said that he would never run for the presidency ever again. A few years later he changed his position and after quitting his post as ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), he decided to run again for the presidency. In 2005 he was appointed vice-president of the Socialist International. 2006 On 12 March 2006 Serpa was selected as candidate for the Colombian Liberal Party for the presidency of Colombia. Álvaro Uribe (Vice president: Francisco Santos): 7,397,835 (62.35%) Carlos Gaviria (Vice president: Patricia Lara): 2,613,157 (22.02%) Horacio Serpa: (Vice president :Luis Iván Marulanda Gómez): 1,404,235 (11.83%) Candidate for Governor of Santander On 28 October 2007 Serpa was elected Governor