“The State looked the other way”: Colombia apologizes for the murder of Guillermo Cano

The night of December 17, 1986 left an open wound in the history of Colombian journalism. That day Guillermo Cano, former director of El Espectador, was murdered by hitmen linked to the Medellín Cartel.

Within the framework of Journalist's Day and 37 years later, the Colombian State apologized for the incident and recognized its responsibility for not having protected the journalist's right to life. The ceremony was attended by family, friends, journalists and representatives of the Government, the Foundation for Freedom of the Press and the Inter-American Press Association.

The recognition ceremony was led by the Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna, who assured: “We all failed Mr. Guillermo Cano, his family, El Espectador, and the journalists.” Furthermore, he assured that the Colombian State “looked the other way” and that his murder is “inexcusable.”

One of the sons of the former director of El Espectador, Fernando Cano, took the voice of the family and took a tour of what has happened with his case. He referred to the murder of other El Espectador journalists, the lawyer who handled the former director's case, the intimidation suffered by prosecutors and a long list of crimes that were perpetrated by the country's drug traffickers and that remain unpunished.

Here we would have to throw some questions into the air that, unlike my father's case, they have not received any response: What, if anything, are the investigations into for the deaths of so many journalists, judges, and professors, from the 80s until now? Fernando Cano stated.

The ceremony took place within the framework of a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which concluded in 2001 that the Colombian State failed to fulfill its obligation to guarantee the right to life of Guillermo Cano and that it did not investigate or prosecute those responsible. The case has been loaded with impunity and violence. Little is known about those responsible who ordered the murder, of which it has already been confirmed that the drug trafficker Pablo Escobar was behind it. And after delays and negligence, the act of forgiveness that had been established more than two decades ago only reached this Friday.

“After the peremptory pronouncement, it did not produce any official communication to Colombia, it did not ask anything, it did not advance any communication with the national governments that were elected or re-elected,” said Cano, who pointed out a series of omissions on the part of the IACHR and also by the Colombian State. All of these led to the act of recognition taking 22 years to arrive after the court's ruling.

Fernando Cano assured that he, his brothers, his mother, Ana María Busquets de Cano, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren, they accept “the public manifestation of the Colombian State”. But, he stated that: “With the same love and optimism for the country that we learned from Guillermo Cano Isaza, we hope that this act is not the closing of a process, but rather the initial step to give back to the families of so many journalists, of so many magistrates, of so many judges, of so many soldiers, of so many Colombians, in short, the well-deserved memory of their loved ones.”

“We continue dreaming, like Don Guillermo Cano Isaza, in a Colombia with capital letters”he concluded.

An indelible legacy

If we imagine what these events meant for the democratic life of Colombia, we can say without any exaggeration that this lack of protection not only occurred against an individual, against a family, against a journalistic company, but against a Colombian society that was left orphaned. Orphaned because she lost a group of people who dedicated their lives to investigating, searching, investigating and publishing the most shocking network of corruption between politics and drug trafficking in Colombian history, said Jonathan Bock, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom, at the ceremony. of Press (FLIP).

A few words with which he referred to the work of the former director of El Espectador, who dedicated a good part of his life to investigating and denouncing the actions carried out by the main drug trafficking cartels in the country. A work for which both he and the entire newspaper were threatened.

A harassment that had direct implications on the operation of El Espectador, which even saw the newspaper's circulation stop in places like Medellín, where drug trafficker Pablo Escobar had an enormous and powerful influence.

Despite the persecution, death threats and various pressures, Guillermo Cano continued investigating drug trafficking in the country and so did the newspaper he directed. After his murder, El Espectador continued with the investigations, led by two of his sons, Fernando and Juan Guillermo, who had to go into exile, and also by his brother, Alfonso Cano Isaza.

We stayed waiting for him; The murderous bullets cut short a clean and clear life, a life at the service of Colombia, a life, day in and day out, in the defense of Human Rights, a life in permanent struggle for freedom of the press, his brother remembered him. a few years ago.

The newspaper suffered an attack in 1989, a few years after the death of its director, in which a good part of its premises was destroyed. This, as Osuna recognized, was part of a series of actions that sought to completely “erase” the work of El Espectador by drug trafficking groups.

Despite this, as his son stated, “El Espectador, and the Cano Family, despite the internal drama they were experiencing, continued the fight of their immolated director, not against the drug cartels, as has been claimed. understand since then, but in favor and defense of democracy.”

In his last column – to which a good part of the people who spoke at the ceremony referred – the former director of El Espectador wrote: “Just as there are phenomena that compel discouragement and hopelessness, there is no “I hesitate for a moment to point out that the Colombian spirit will be capable of moving towards a more egalitarian, fairer, more honest and more prosperous society.”

That, the participants assured, is a large part of his great legacy. Today, almost four decades later, the Colombian State committed to honor him. And that the case of Guillermo Cano does not happen again.

“We cannot bring Cano back to life, nor the others who were murdered, but we can and we have to preserve his memory, and it is our commitment,” Osuna said.

Who was Guillermo Cano?

Guillermo Cano was a strong believer in freedom of expression and the need for journalism for the democracy of any country. Much of his life was spent inside El Espectador, which had belonged to his family since 1887. He ended up being the director of the newspaper in which he had spent much of his childhood wandering. He did it when he was only 27 years old.

Since then he has not left his office, nor his typewriter—which this Friday was at the center of the ceremony. According to his family and friends, Cano was a simple man, rather quiet, curious and with an enormous critical sense.

One of his great works was his 'Notebook', where he wrote his opinion on various current issues in Colombia and for which he won the Simón Bolívar National Journalism Award.

Cano was murdered in the same city where he was born, Bogotá, when he was 61 years old. A day that the Nobel Prize in Literature, Gabriel García Márquez, details in his memoirs:

“For almost 40 years, at any time and from anywhere, every time something happened in Colombia, my immediate and accurate reaction was to call Guillermo Cano by phone so he could tell me the exact news.” That December 17, 1986, says García Márquez, “the only thing that occurred to me then, dazed by the shock, was the same instinctive impulse as always: call Guillermo Cano by phone so he could tell me the complete news, and share with “He the rage and pain of his death.”

Although his pen paused, his legacy did not end there. His family, especially his wife, Ana María Busquets de Cano, has sought to ensure that what Guillermo represented in his life is not lost in time.

In 1997, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created, which is awarded each year to a person, organization or institution that has contributed significantly to the defense or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world. world. The economic reparation established by this Friday's act will be allocated for this award.

The Colombian State also promised to continue the investigation to clarify the crime through the Prosecutor's Office. In addition, he must make a documentary about the violence that surrounded El Espectador and its journalists. Some acts to overcome amnesia and preserve memory.

With local media