Authorities told the newspaper that the Los Rastrojos militia and the Los Paisas, Nueva Generacion, Renacer and Magdalena Medio groups “have nearly 4,000 men” and are responsible for a good deal of the criminal activity in the country. “According to police, the offensive of the past few months, with more than 200 operations, weakened at least three organizations; only eight identified groups remain,” El Tiempo said. The independent Fundacion Nuevo Arco Iris, however, has information on 82 criminal organizations in its files that have a presence in 273 cities and could have 10,000 armed men. Only about 42 percent of the criminal activities of these gangs are related to drug trafficking, Fundacion Nuevo Arco Iris said. “The other 58 percent has to do with extortion, stealing land and the most serious, common crime in the streets of the big cities,” the foundation said. Read more here. Semana International delivers news about Colombia in English. Find more in our home.