A total of 130 journalists were killed in Colombia in the past 30 years. The organisation notes that Colombian journalists are still regularly threatened by terrorist organisations. FLIP reports that death threats are still a highly effective way of preventing independent reporting. link

However, 2009 has already got off to a bad start for Colombian journalists. According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, Maria Eugenia Guerrero, a Colombian journalist was found dead on the outskirts of the Ecuadorian city of Tulcannear earlier this month,

[Guerrero] who was working for the Integracion Estereo station in the southern Colombian city of Ipiales, was brutally assaulted and killed and her body was left in a remote area outside Tulcan… The body, according to the forensics report, showed signs of sexual assault and it is presumed the journalist was killed in a violent manner because a portion of her skull was not found and had presumably been detached as a result of a severe blow. link