Colombia's Medical Marijuana Hits a Speed Bump

Coca leaf and cannabis cures for sale in a Bogotá market.
Are the two plants really so different?

Colombia is by far the planet's biggest cocaine producer, and the cocaine economy is booming, more than quadrupling over recent years.

Now, Colombia wants to be a world leader in another drug: marijuana.

The country's cannabis strategy is full of ironies, of course. Colombia was a world marijuana leader back in the 1970s and '80s, when Colombian Gold was prized in California high schools like the one I studied in. Of course, today pot is legal in California (although it can't be imported), and California produces lots more high quality pot than Colombia does.

But hot, humid Colombia has lots better growing conditions than do temperate nations like the U.S.,

Canada and Europe, where marijuana is increasingly legal or tolerated. In particular, Colombia has drawn lots of investment from Canada, which is in the process of legalizing recreational cannabis, altho the Canadians are careful to stress that their Colombian investments involve only medicinal marijuana.

Colombia's cocaine industry continues costing the country immense amounts of money to pay for carnage and law enforcement, while its marijuana businesses will soon be paying taxes and creating legal employment, like the tobacco and alcohol industries.

Is there a lesson here about the best way to manage mind-altering substances?

Colombia's cannabis industry suffered a black eye a few weeks ago when a group of Israeli cannabis tourists and their guide were kidnapped after visiting a medicinal marijuana plantation near Cali. The kidnappers, who were apparently dissident FARC guerrillas, released the tourists but killed the guide, after demanding an astronomical ransom from her family. Whether the kidnappers were motivated by money or paranoia about strangers entering their region is not clear. But the tragedy was only marginally related to marijuana, which was what drew the tourists into the troubled region, but did not cause the crime.

Mónica Berenice Blanco Sossa,
murdered Argentine-Colombian tourist guide. 

Some have suggested that the tragedy was the fault of the guide and the tourists for pursuing mind-altering substances. That's an interesting sentiment. I'll wait for them to prohibit tourists from consuming alcohol, tobacco and caffeine, as well.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Not all Victims are Equal

'General kidnapped in El Chocó' reports El Tiempo.

About two weeks ago, FARC guerrillas hung banners commemorating the death three years ago of a murderous guerrilla leader on territory belonging to the NASA indigenous people. NASA indigenous guards pulled the banners down. Furious at being defied, the guerrillas murdered two of the NASA people.

In response, the NASA captured eight guerrillas, two of whom were teenagers. After a trial in front of thousands of NASA people, two of the guerrillas were sentenced to 60 and 40-year prison terms and the teenage boys to being whipped.

Colombian leaders denounced the FARC for the killings and for employing child soldiers, but continued negotiating peace with them in Havana, Cuba.

Two days ago, a Colombian general disappeared in Chocó Department, allegedly kidnapped by the
FARC. In response, the government suspended the peace negotiations.

Caracol TV reports the suspension of the peace talks in Havana.

This is far from the first time that some victims have turned out to be more important than others.

In 1928, Colombian soldiers, defending the interests of the United Fruit Company, massacred hundreds or thousands of striking workers in the town of Cienaga near Santa Marta. Soon afterwards, the general in charge, Carlos Cortés Vargas, was promoted to chief of police of Bogotá.

But the next year during students protests Bogotá police shot and killed a young man. who turned out to be the son of a friend of the president. Murdering hundreds of plantation laborers was apparently acceptable, but killing a member of the elite crossed the line. Both Gen. Cortés and Minister of Defense Ignacio Rengifo were fired.

The NASA present Captured FARC guerrillas to the public.

And don't get me started on the Caso Colmenares, the sad story of a student from an elite private university who either died or was murdered in a north Bogotá ravine while partying with friends. The media never stop telling us about the Colmenares trial, while countless humble Bogotanos die tragically and unnoticed.

The drama of the many victims of Colombia's long civil war is in the news these days because of the debate about how - and whether - to compensate them. A recent study by Harvard University found that, including displaced people, some 6.9 million Colombians qualify as victims. That's 14% of Colombia's population, whereas most other nations have compensated about 1%. The FARC, for their part, deny that they have victimized civilians at all - something nobody believes.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

43 Crosses for 43 Martyrs

Students of the Universidad Nacional planted 43 crosses today to memorialize the 43 protesting Mexican university students who were kidnapped, 'disappeared' and apparently murdered recently. The student protesters had been detained by police, who killed six students and then handed the rest over to a criminal gang, who reportedly murdered the students, then burned their remains and dumped them into a river. Most incredibly, the town's mayor and his wife were apparently working with the criminal gang. 

The closest parallel in Colombian history is probably an April 1984 episode during which police entered campus and reportedly beat and murdered student protests.

The sign says 'They buried us alive, but didn't know that we were seeds,' a quote from Uruguayan journalist, novelist and poet Mario Benedetti.

Below is a mural near the Plaza del Ché on Bogotá's National University, commemorating a May 1984 episode when police entered campus and allegedly beat and murdered student protesters.

'Let us not forget.' A memorial to students murdered by police during May 1984 protests on the National University campus in Bogotá. 

A plaque memorializing students killed by police during the May 1984 protests.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The FARC's Latest Lie

Worth murdering for? The polemical banner, featuring Alfonso Cano.
(Photo: Defensoria del Pueblo via Semana Magazine)

Just days after FARC negotiators in La Habana asserted that the guerrillas have "never perpetrated attacks against the civil population," the terrorist group exposed their own lie.

Recently, FARC guerrillas hung huge banners on indigenous territory commemorating the anniversary of the killing by military bombing of FARC leader Alfonso Cano. Unable to tolerate such disrespect, the FARC killed two indigenous men and attacked a third.

Fortunately, the NASA's indigenous guard was able to capture eight guerrillas, whom they will put on trial and then hand over to Colombian authorities for imprisonment.

Which makes one ask whether the government should even be speaking with murdering, lying, hypocrites like these. But, unfortunately, there's nobody else to speak to to end Colombia's conflict.

Update: The NASA 'court' (a public assembly of hundreds of people) sentenced two of the guerrillas to 40- and 60-year prison terms. Two of the guerrillas captured by the NASA were minors, and were sentenced to being whipped. The FARC issued a statement in which they seemed to blame the NASA for the murders for pursuing the guerrillas.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Coffee, Sex, Poison and Colombian Insecurity

Ana Maria Gonzalez-Angulo, brilliant
doctor, researcher, poisoner
and Colombian.

After moving to Florida in the late 1990s and beginning an extraordinary career researching and treating cancer, Popayán, Cauca native Ana Maria Gonzalez-Angulo became a United States citizen.

However, when Gonzalez-Angulo went on trial last month for giving poison-laced coffee to her fellow doctor and lover, in the eyes of many she became a Colombian again.

The case, which was tried in a Houston, Texas courtroom, not only exposed a sordid love triangle, but also exposed enduring Colombian insecurities about its identity and image.

Image: Screenshot from ABC13.com

Gonzalez-Angulo, 43 single and childless, treated patients and did research in the world-renowned Her page on the center's website lists 119 peer-reviewed papers which she authored or co-authored, as well as other publications. She also won a prestigious Susan G. Komen fellowship and was a caring, dedicated physician who saved many lives, according to patients who testified at her trial.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston.

But beginning in early 2011 Gonzalez-Angulo carried out an affair with fellow Dr. George Blumenschein, who also worked at M.D. Anderson. At the same time, Blumenschein, 50, was also in a long-term relationship with his live-in girlfriend, with whom he was trying to have a child.

Image: Screenshot from ABC13.com

On Jan. 27, 2013, as their affair was apparently breaking up, Gonzalez-Angulo invited Blumenschein to her home for "a special Colombian coffee", according to court testimony. The two had sex, and then Blumenschein drank the coffee. But the coffee tasted "sickeningly sweet," Blumenschein later testified. Soon after, he felt disoriented and then went to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with serious kidney damage. The jury concluded that Gonzalez-Angulo had laced her lover's coffee with ethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting ingredient in anti-freeze.

Gonzalez-Angulo could potentially have received a life sentence, but instead was sentenced to ten years in prison for assault. She also appears likely to lose her medical license.

In the U.S. press, Gonzalez-Angulo was portrayed as something of a manipulative, psychopath.

Gonzalez-Angulo at work during better times.

Months before the poisoning incident, she had claimed that she'd been assaulted, supposedly by thugs hired by Blumenschein's long-time girlfriend. But instead of immediately reporting the alleged assault to police, Gonzalez-Angulo told friends that she would handle things "the Colombian way," according to court testimony. Gonzalez-Angulo told co-workers that back in Colombia she'd had people murdered, according to testimony.

Colombian media, however, gave a different spin to the drama, and to Gonzalez-Angulo. Semana, Colombia's leading newsmagazine, put Gonzalez-Angulo on its cover with the question Innocent? El Tiempo, the leading newspaper, published a list of supposed 'doubts' about Gonzalez-Angulo's conviction, such as that the poison supposed laced into Blumenschein's coffee can be purchased over the Internet, and so is available to non-doctors.

Colombian media also sang Gonzalez-Angulo's praises as a life-saver, and emphasized that her imprisonment would be a great loss for science - as tho that were relevant to her guilt or innocence.

Colombian media repeatedly asked: Did Gonzalez-Angulo's Colombian origin weigh against her during the trial? with the obvious implication that it had, and that the star doctor had very possibly been framed.

After all, during the trial the prosecution supposedly kept referring to Gonzalez-Angulo as 'the Colombian doctor.'

Might Gonzalez-Angulo's birth nationality have prejudiced the jury against her? Conceivably. However, one would think that the multiple testimonies about her life-saving medical work would have far outweighed that. But the Colombian media's focus on this point suggests how insecure Colombians continue to feel about their international image.

That insecurity, of course, isn't completely unjustified. After all, the movie and TV-miniseries industries, both in Colombia and internationally, love making dramas about Colombian mafiosos, which make for much more exciting plot-lines than, say, the nation's strong economic growth.

And here a brilliant life-saving doctor is changing that image - and she ends up in prison, too.

The anguish is only compounded by the crime being committed by a Colombian woman - who are supposed to be mostly beautiful extras on Colombian tourist ads - using Colombia's proudest export, coffee.

But the Texas jury surely had access to lots more information than we do, and they concluded that Gonzalez-Angulo was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Sadly, sometimes, even brilliant, talented, accomplished people do really stupid, ugly things.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Perils of Being a Colombian Athlete

Football star
Andres Escobar.

Almost 20 years ago Colombia was projected to do well in the World Cup, and was favored to beat the United States in their group stage match.

But then, in what sadly remains the best-known episode in Colombian sports, 27-year-old defender Andres Escobar scored an own-goal - apparently by accident - and Colombia lost 1-2 to the U.S. and made an early departure from the World Cup.

But that was only the first act of Escobar's tragedy. A popular and talented player, Escobar became the whipping boy for Colombia's disappointing performance. He returned to Medellin and hid in his house. Finally, on July 1, Escobar and a buddy went out with their girlfriends. There, the Gallón brothers, who were allegedly connected to paramilitaries and drug-traffickers, ridiculed Escobar from a nearby table.

"Autogol, Andrés, autogol" they yelled at him.

Escobar held his temper. But after leaving the restaurant at 4 a.m. he followed the brothers' car into a

Escobar's funeral procession.

parking lot. There,  Humberto Muñoz, the brothers' driver/bodyguard, fired six bullets into Escobar's head.

Afterwards, the driver would defend his employers, claiming they hadn't ordered him to kill Escobar "yet."

Colombian President Cesar Gaviria attended Escobar's funeral. The young football star had turned from hero to goat to martyr.

Gunman Muñoz did 12 years in prison. The Gallón brothers, who had influential friends, did short prison sentences for attempting to cover up the crime. Later, however, one of them was convicted of financing paramilitary groups. (El Espectador has an in-depth article here.)

Escobar, however, was far from the only Colombian athlete to fall victim to the country's violence.

A Cyclist's Father Murdered

Cyclist Rigoberto Duran.

Colombian cyclist Rigoberto Urán's second-place finish in the Giro d'Italia this month would have made headlines - if not for the fact that another Colombian, Nairo Quintana, finished first.

But Urán had to climb over more than hills to achieve cycling greatness. He also had to overcome illness, poverty and the tragedy of Colombia's armed conflict.

Born in 1987 in the municipality of Urrao, Antioquia, Urán grew up poor, helping his father collect farmers' milk and sell lottery tickets. The young Urán suffered from asthma, so to cure this his father took him cycling thru the region's hills. The boy soon improved.

However, like much of Colombia, the Urrao region was roamed by violent bands of leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries. One day, the elder Urán - also named Rigoberto - went out on a training ride and encountered an illegal paramilitary checkpoint. Altho what happened next is uncertain, the younger Urán says that the paramilitaries forced his father and others to steal cattle for them - and then killed the men.

Fatherless, the 14-year-old Urán was forced to support his family by selling lottery tickets. Nevertheless, he continued training, and soon after was signed by the Orgullo Paisa racing team. Now, he supported his family with his cycling income.

By age 18 Urán was in Colombia's national team, and a year later Team Tenax had signed him and moved him to Spain.

Kidnapping - a Professional Risk for Cycle Racers

Cyclist Luis 'Lucho' Herrera.

Other Colombian cyclists' scrapes with their nation's armed conflict have fortunately not been so tragic. Luis 'Lucho' Herrera was a legendary climber who achieved immortality in 1987 by winning the Vuelta a España. He retired in 1992 to spend time with his family.

However, in 2000 Herrera guerrillas kidnapped Herera. According to one report I read, only after grabbing Herrera did the guerrillas discover who they were holding. They then asked their captive to recount his racing glories, and freed him after only 24 hours, apparently embarrassed about having kidnapped a national hero.

Oliverio Rincón, kidnapped
twice in one year.

Also in 2000, fellow cyclist Oliverio Rincón was kidnapped twice,
once together with his family, the first time by the ELN and afterward by the FARC guerrillas. The ELN held Rincón for a week, and the second kidnapping lasted for only one day. After his second kidnapping, Rincón said that the guerrillas had apologized to him.

The kidnappers "told me that I wasn't the person they were looking for, that it was a mistake and that they were very sorry about it," Rincon said.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Protesting the Death of a Homeless Man

'Hug a resident of the street.'

Homeless people marched today to protest the recent murder of Marco Tulio Sevillano, known as ‘Calidoso’, a homeless man who died after being set on fire near the La Javeriana University just north of the Parque Nacional.

Sevillano's killing caused wide indignation and at least one previous protest march, by neighbors of La Javeriana. Sevillano's killers have not been found. Today's protest marchers said that other homeless people had been murdered, but their deaths hadn't been investigated - or even noticed.

'Do you know how someone ends up in the street?'

Also on Ave. Septima today, a group of activists protested the disappearance of Carolina Garzón, a Colombian university student and leftist activist who disappeared about two years ago while in Quito, Ecuador. Despite Garzón's activism, one of the protesters said that they did not know whether she was a victim of political persecution, common criminals or even human trafficking. 

'We are all Carolina.'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

What's a Life Worth? It Depends.

On their way to the States. Taxi drivers to be extradited for the murder of U.S. DEA agent James Watson. (Photo: El Tiempo)

What's a life worth?

It depends a lot on who you are and where you're from, it seems.

Today's headlines report that seven Colombians who participated in the kidnap/murder of U.S. DEA

Murdered DEA agent James Watson. 

agent James 'Terry' Watson last June will be extradited to the U.S., where each could spend 45 years in prison.

It's not what these guys expected when they decided to mug a man leaving a ritzy bar in Bogotá's upper-crust Parque de la 93 neighborhood. After all, most muggers undoubtedly are never arrested, and those who are spend little time in prison. But Watson fought back and his assailants stabbed him fatally.

Now, that single murder - which may not have been intentional - could send men to prison for a grand total of 315 years.

Don't get me wrong. These guys are predators, and deserve many years of punishment - perhaps even 45 years each. They belonged to a band which had undoubtedly committed lots of muggings, and very possibly other murders.

Ramon Isaza and paramilitary troops. (Photo: Semana)

But it's hard to ignore the contrast with the punishment of some of Colombia's vicious ex-paramilitary leaders, seven of whom who are soon to complete eight-year prison terms agreed to under the controversial Peace and Justice Law negotiated during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.

Among those expected to be released are Ramon Isaza, a paramilitary leader from the Magdalena Medio region, where paramilitary groups murdered some 1,500 people, some of them after brutal tortures, according to government investigators. Making the not-unrealistic assumption that Isaza had responsibility in that number of killings, he paid less than two days' prison time for each victim.

Ex-paramilitary leader Banquez Martinez talks to victims
of his fighters. (Photo: El Universal)

Another ex-paramilitary commander expected to be released soon is Úber Banquez Martínez, alias El Salado Massacre in the year 2000, in which perhaps more than 100 people were murdered, many with chainsaws, including a six-year-old girl and a 65-year-old woman. The paramilitaries got drunk and played loud music while raping, torturing and murdering their victims, who included pregnant women.  Then they played soccer with their heads.
'Juancho Dique', who commanded the

That was only one of a half-dozen massacres commanded by Banquez Martinez. But, considering only El Salado, he served less than one month for each killing.

Nobody believes that the justice system is really fair or just. But, couldn't punishments be a little less inequitable?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Remembering a Child Martyr

While many Colombians were fixated on whether Colombia would qualify for the world cup, this group of human rights activists held a memorial on Ave. Septima for Nicolas David Neira, a high school student killed at age 15 near this spot afte being beaten by police during a May Day protest in 2005. The police allegedly involved claimed that Neira had been hit by protesters acting violently. However, in 2011 a court found the city of Bogotá responsible Neira's killing.

Today's demonstrators yelled out: "What's the use of football without historical memory?" The conection isn't completely clear to me. And most passers by seemed more intent on catching the football match.

Colombia's national team made a dramatic comeback and tied in today's game against Chile.

A poster portrays the police as violent repressors. 

'Neither pardon nor forgiveness.'

Another student martyr.

A man wearing a Colombian football jersey stands beside posters and a plaque commemorating Neira's killing. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Tragedy Takes the Man Who Made the Green Men

Olave with some of his figures in his workshop in 2011.

Olave's Banana Republic.

Painter and sculptor Jorge Olave, probably the La Candelaria neighborhood's best known artist, who was probably best known for the green figures on balconies and rooftops around the neighborhood, was found dead in his workshop this weekend, apparently the victim of a homicide.

Olave created much more than the green figures which made him locally famous - and generated more than a few bizarre theories about their origin and meaning. (They were created in the mid-'90s. modeled after local residents.) Some of his figures were created from plastic resins, others from recycled materials. He also painted impressionistic scenes of La Candelaria, as well as works which suggest Andy Warhol. His creations also included critical social commentary.

Along with his children, Olave also created a 'Graffiti Art Shop' below his workshop on Carrera 3, where they sold often satirical, sometimes Banksy-style prints.

An image from a 2011 exhibit by Olave
about neglect in La Candelaria.

Olave sold works internationally and did exhibitions in the United States and Europe. He was also a great promoter of neighborhood culture and always welcoming to strangers interested in visiting his workshop - even when they were not likely to buy anything.

When I learned of the murder, I sent a text message to Olave's daughter Laura lamenting her father's death and calling it "a great loss for La Candelaria."

"It's a great loss for the world," she wrote back.

Police are investigating Olave's killing, according to press reports.

An Olave figure by the La Candelaria neighborhood City Hall.

Olave in 2011 in his workshop's stairwell.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Sixteen-Year-Old Assassin

Jimenez and Ave. Septima, Bogotá's
open-air emerald market.

 When an emerald dealer was gunned down in broad daylinght last Thursday on one of Bogotás most iconic intersections, it probably didn't surprise many.

After all, emerald industry observers had feared violence between rival 'emerald czars' after the death from cancer last April of Victor Carranza, who had ruled the industry for decades.

And last week's victim, Pedro Libardo Ortegón, 64, reportedly had been close to Carranza, even carrying the dead kingpin's coffin at his funeral. Reportedly very wealthy, Ortegón had in the past been linked to paramilitarism and to real estate of questionable origin had been listed under his name.

But I was struck by a different aspect of the crime - the killer was 16 years old.

Is it my imagination, or are fewer esmeralderos
hanging out on the street these days?

According to El Tiempo, the child assassin was recruited in a pool hall in the poor and violent Ciudad Bolivar by unidentified men offering 5 million pesos for the murder. They gave him 2 million pesos up front.

Why would any young man, with his life in front of him, accept such a proposal? Was he a drug addict? Spellbound by the prospect of more money than he could imagine? Was he or his family threatened?

The cowardice and unprincipledness of the men who hired the boy can't be overemphasized. Willing to commit murder, but too cowardly to do it themselves, they didn't mind risking a child's life and future to do their dirty work.

The boy found Ortegón at 3:30 in the afternoon on Jimenez street between Carreras 7 and 8, the center of the open-air emerald market, and shot him in the neck with a silencer-equipped pistol. The boy then ran east on Jimenez Ave., but was captured by other emerald dealers, who might have killed him if police hadn't interceded.

Because he's a minor, the killer will likely only serve a few years. But this crime will follow him his whole life - as it should.

And let's just hope this isn't just the first of more crimes by this boy.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Month to Pay for Each Murder?

Popeye with ex-Pres. Andrés Pastrana, who was kidnapped by the Medellin cartel. 

He appears by all accounts to be a mild-mannered man in his 50s, given to reading literary classics and recounting in detail the adventures of his younger years.

But this isn't just any middle-aged man, but Popeye, a one-time gunman for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. He murdered some 250 people and has spent the last two decades in prison.

Popeye, whose real name is Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, was sentenced to the maximum possible 40 years in prison when he turned himself in. Since then, however, his sentence has been reduced because of good behavior and his testimony against other ex-members of the Medellin cartel.

Now, his release date is approaching.

Among other testimony, Popeye has told investigators that the Cuban government collaborated with the Medellin cartel, that the M-19 guerrillas accepted financing and other help from Escobar for their 1985 attack on the Justice Palace, and that powerful politicians collaborated with political assassinations committed by Escobar.

But 20 years in prison translates into just about one month for each murder Popeye committed. And those who have interviewed Popeye say he doesn't express much remorse.

Past age 50 and on parole, Popeye's not likely to return to the murdering business. But does anybody really believe that he's paid his debts to society?

I also wonder what sort of life expectancy Popeye can expect outside prison with so many underworld enemies seeking vengeance.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Guillermo Cano, Journalistic Martyr

El Espectador's old office building on Ave. Jimenez in La Candelaria. During the 1950s Cano worked
 here with future Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

25 years ago today, Guillermo Cano, publisher of the El Espectador newspaper, left his office in northwest Bogotá and was gunned down by two killers on motorcyclists paid by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Cano was a crusading journalist remembered for denouncing the narcos and their corrupting influence on Colombian society. Cano, and his newspaper, paid a bloody price. Three years later, Escobar car bombed El Espectador's printing plant. Meanwhile, several courageous judges who investigated Cano's killing were themselves murdered or forced into exile.

A woman pays her respects at the tomb of presidential
candidate Luis Carlos Galan, assassinated by Pablo Escobar in 1989.

How things have changed since then - and also remained the same. El Espectador was left a poor second in Bogotá's newspaper rivalry. For many years, it retreated to publishing only on Sundays, and today, the less-outspoken El Tiempo is the dominant daily.

Escobar, of course, was hunted down and killed in 1993. His murders, kidnappings and bombings had become too much even for Colombia's corrupted politicians to tolerate. Escobar is now a Medellin tourist attraction, altho it'll take a few more decades for his victims and victims' relatives to die off and for popular media to transform him into a cartoon monster like Caligula or Attila the Hun.

A man reads an article in El Tiempo about the anniversary of Cano's killing.

Cano is remembered more positively. The UNESCO has named a World Press Freedom Prize after him. And Colombia has changed as well. Violence against journalists has declined, altho not disappeared, as has drug-fueled violence.

Yet, more than change, over the past quarter-century drug-fueled violence against journalists has simply shifted north, to Mexico, where 102 journalists have been murdered since 2000. There, there don't appear to be many contemporary Canos willing to denounce drug traffickers and their influence.

In a January 1990 interview with Spin magazine, El Espectador columnist Maria Jimena Duzan observed: "You know, the narcos will always exist as long as the business is lucrative."

Government memorial to Guillermo Cano

Guillermo Cano Foundation

Guillermo Cano autobiography

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours