In Colombia, human rights groups say newly formed right-wing paramilitary groups are fueling a rise in internal displacements this year. A new report says some 1,500 Colombians are fleeing their homes every day. That marks a 41 percent increase over the same period last year. Jorger Rojas of the Council for Human Rights and the Displaced says it’s the most displacements in twenty years.

Jorger Rojas: “We are amazed at the number of people leaving various regions of the country as a consequence of the violence and armed conflict. There are 270,000 people, the highest number in the last twenty years, many of them in massive displacements that have disappeared and not returned.”

The Colombian government is the highest recipient of US aid in the Western Hemisphere, most of it in military assistance.