summary: The aim of the investigation is to study Colombia’s forms of organised violence in the context of the changes in the internal conflict and the parastatal actors involved, following the partial demobilisation of the United States of Colombia’s self-defence in 2006 and up to 2016. The vital question is to systematise differences in the organisations that emerge after the AUC, were they a paramilitary continuity, or did they have different elements? The work has historically defined criminal entities as part of the evolution of the privatisation of Colombian violence, whose institutional arrangements have been present since the 50s. The main discussions on paramilitarianism in Colombia were presented due to the complexity of the topic. As a working hypothesis, it is established that, in widespread internal conflicts such as Colombian, the fragilities and institutional weaknesses combined with the rise of illegal economies lead to the transformation of parastate and paramilitary organisations parties to the conflict, with contrainsurgent political elements into predominantly criminal formations.