So it wasn't just a rumour. I'd heard that all across the country, paramilitaries were reforming under the shadowy banner of the "Black Eagles" but no one I spoke to seemed to have hard information. Now, they appeared to be bullying their way into the villages I was due to visit.

Not that this was anything new for the locals. Until the army moved in, they had lived for years under de facto rule of the FARC or paramilitaries. New visitors to the region would have to show their passport to grubby looking men in fatigues from one side or the other. But the country was supposed to be at peace now. A much-touted treaty had disbanded the paramilitaries. The FARC were supposed to be licking their wounds far into the jungle.

In the end I was able to go, but when I arrived you could cut the tension with a knife. Disgruntled soldiers strolled the streets, clearly shunned by locals.