Petty crime is an ongoing issue across major cities in Colombia but organised crime remains a bigger problem in the more rural areas of the country, including the border areas with Venezuela and the Pacific coast near Cali. Risks include kidnapping and extortion by several armed groups that operate in these areas. This is the security assessment of our Senior Manager for Intelligence and Assistance for Latin America, Jaime Lopez-Aranda, who has just returned from a trip to Bogota and Cali. He provided us with this update.