Colombia’s journalists are permanently threatened by “bacrims,” gangs of former paramilitaries now involved in drug trafficking. As a result of physical attacks, death threats and murders, Colombia is the western hemisphere’s second-most dangerous country for the media, after Mexico. Criminal groups such as “Los Urabeños” and “Los Rastrojos” do not hesitate to use violence to silence alternative or community media outlets that try to cover their activities. The violence, in which local officials are often complicit, usually goes unpunished.