The Colombian side guaranteed progression from the group stage as they eased to victory at the Estadio La Portada in La Serena.

Catalina Usme, who scored a hat-trick in her team's previous encounter with Paraguay, broke the deadlock midway through the first half.

Leicy Santos doubled Colombia's lead nine minutes after the restart before Isabella Echeverri put the gloss on another commanding performance with the third in the late stages of the contest.

Colombia sit top of Group A on 10 points having won three and drawn one of their first four matches.

They will take on the team which finished as runner-up in Group B on Monday (April 16).

In the other match in the group, hosts Chile boosted their qualification hopes with victory over Uruguay at the same venue.

As the encounter looks to be heading for a draw, Maria Jose Rojas popped up with the winner 11 minutes from time to move Chile into second place in the group.

The tournament continues tomorrow as Ecuador play Bolivia and defending champions Brazil take on Venezuela.

The tournament champion will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 and the Pan American Games in Lima next year.

The second team will also qualify for the World Cup and Pan American Games but will only be given an Olympic qualification playoff spot, where they will come up against an African team.

The third place team will be given a World Cup play-off place, where they would face a team from the Americas and a spot at Lima 2019.

The team bottom of the final table will be out of Olympic and World Cup contention and will have to settle for just a slot at the Pan American Games.