Page "Simón Trinidad" Paragraph 9

His area of operations included Valledupar.

Despite Valledupar's being a relatively small city, with less than 300, 000 inhabitants, kidnappings in the city would rise, eventually becoming the city with the highest kidnapping rate in Colombia ,.

According to Medios para la Paz, a group founded by Colombian journalists, Colombian guerrilla groups kidnapped a total of 1, 000 people, ( 300 a year, 25 a month ) in the Cesar Department, between 2000 and 2003.

Paramilitary groups also began to grow in the region.