The Colombian military has been fighting guerrillas with the help of paramilitary groups responsible for gross human rights violations according to Human Rights Watch. Between 1988 and 1995 there were 67,378 victims of political violence in Colombian averaging 701.9 per month or 23.4 per day. According to the School of Americas Watch, 1.5 million people have been displaced since 1985 in a refugee crisis greater than Kosovo's and the third largest in the world. Political violence caused 300,000 Colombians to flee their homes last year alone according to The Economist, and 800,00 in the last four years. The army has extensive links with the paramilitary forces at the local and regional level and some army officers facilitate the work of the paramilitaries or look the other way as violence occurs.
Paramilitaries operate in coordination with the military.
The military shares intelligence, plans and carries out joint operations, provides weapons and munitions, provides support with helicopters and medical aid, and coordinates with the paramilitaries on a daily basis, according to the SOA Watch. In a process known as 'legalization,' the army then claimed the dead as guerrillas killed in combat while paramilitaries received their pay in army weapons. The 1993 human rights report State Terrorism in Colombia cites 247 Colombian officers for human rights violations. Some of the more heinous massacres include the 1988 massacre in Segovia in which 43 people were killed, the Trujillo chainsaw massacres, which took place between 1988 and 1991, and the 1993 Riofrio massacre. Even in the context of 40 years of civil war, the first two months of this year were frightening.