In 2001, Bedoya started a job with "El Tiempo" newspaper in Colombia. Her job was to write about crime, including paramilitary groups. In early August 2003, she went to the town of Puerto Alvira. She wanted to write about how the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) controlled the town and forced the 1,100 people in the town to work in the illegal cocaine trade. The leader of the FARC guerrillas kidnapped Bedoya and her photographer. 