PERSPECTIVAS N O 4/2014 The Last Man Standing? The Rise of Colombia’s Urabeños Jeremy McDermott Octubre 2014 The Urabeños are today’s dominating criminal power in Colombia. Born in the aftermath of the demobilisation of Colombia’s paramilitaries in 2006, as part of the new generation of drug trafficking syndicates that emerged at that time, dubbed the BACRIM, the Urabeños can trace a di­rect line from the paramilitary AUC, which had its roots in the infamous Medellin cartel of Pablo Escobar. This paper aims to tell the history of their expansion in Colombia and abroad and their triumph over more then 30 other BACRIM. That history is less about permanent gang wars than about how the Urabeños mana­ged to seal fruitful alliances with the other main actors of the Colombian underworld – BACRIM, FARC, ELN – thus building a complex and far­reaching criminal network. Nevertheless, this paper will suggest that the Urabeños do not have the monopoly of criminal power and a perfect hegemony over drug traffic ­king in Colombia, as they still encounter local resistance by other BA ­CRIM, such as the Rastrojos in Buenaventura and the Oficina de Caribe in Santa Marta. Furthermore, the central command structure of the orga­nization – the Estado Mayor or Board of Directors – does not have direct control over more than a fraction of those that use the franchise name. Many regional chiefs that may sit in the Board of Directors are financially self-sufficient and run all manner of criminal activities in their criminal fiefdoms. Considering the possible future of the Urabeños, this paper concludes that while the franchise may eventually change its name, as the centre of gravity moves to other parts of the country then Urabá – where it was originally founded –, its nature as a fluid criminal network will remain.