Duzan, Maria Jimena. Death Beat: A Colombian Journalist's Life Inside
the Cocaine Wars. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. Translated and edited
by Peter Eisner. 282 pages.
In 1990, an average of 15 people were murdered every day in Medellin,
Colombia. There were more than 100,000 unemployed, and at least 140,000
children had no access to education. Some children became professional
assassins, a career-track that was respected by the locals. An official
engaged in the war against the cartels, the incorruptible General Miguel
Maza Marquez, would say to journalists: "I admire people like you because
I am a professional trained to face death and deal with that. But you are
not trained; you are willing to face death all the same." Colombia is a
country where journalists don't go anywhere without their bodyguards.
Maria Jimena Duzan, 34, saw her house bombed, El Espectador's offices
blown up, the murder of her publisher Guillermo Cano, the murder of her
sister who made documentary films, and the assassination of numerous
reformist politicians and presidential candidates. This account, which was
first published in Spanish in 1992, begins with M-19 and continues through
the rise and decline of the Medellin cartel. (The Cali cartel, which has
become dominant in the last few years, is mentioned only occasionally.)
Duzan was exiled from Colombia in 1990. She received a Nieman Fellowship
at Harvard, and in 1992 returned to Colombia to continue her reporting.
ISBN 0-06-017057-3
Extract the names from this source
Back to search page