Colombia's armed groups ‘expanding’

Colombia’s once-weakened armed groups are growing their power again, the country’s ombud said on Monday, as the country heads toward its most violent year ina decade.

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Fuelled by renewed competition over drug trafficking routes, cartels and guerilla groups are cementing control of pockets of the country outside major cities.

“There is a very serious dynamic of expansion and fragmentation of the groups,” ombud Iris Marin said.

Almost a decade after peace accords, Colombia faces surging levels of displacement, rising killings of social leaders and new threats from explosive-laden drones.