Edgar Astudillo/CPJ Guest Blogger
Edgar Astudillo is a veteran radio reporter originally from Montería and now resettled in Bogota.
![Colombian authorities seize a Los Paisas weapons cache in August 2009. (Reuter/Fredy Amariles)](https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Colombia.gang1_.jpg?w=400&h=233&crop=1)
In Colombia, gang threats force reporter to flee
My chance encounter last year with Los Paisas, a criminal gang that operates in northern Colombia, began a nightmare that continues today. I was heading to an assignment in a tourist area south of Montería on July 9, 2009, when Los Paisas gang members blocked my car. The gang was meeting with local landowners nearby–and…