Colombia compensates family of Guillermo Cano, 40 years after his murder
The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca approved a settlement between the State and the heirs of the El Espectador director, murdered in 1986.
Settlement approved four decades after Cano Isaza's killing
The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca approved a settlement whereby the Colombian State must compensate the family of journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, director of the newspaper El Espectador, murdered on 17 December 1986. According to elcolombiano.com, the agreement comes forty years after the crime and acknowledges damage caused by the journalist's death, as well as state failures previously identified by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Cano was recognised for his critical stance on drug trafficking and his support for the extradition of drug traffickers. The IACHR subsequently determined that the risk he faced was known to the authorities and that the State did not adopt the necessary measures to protect his life.
The IACHR declared the State responsible from 2001
The case reached the Inter-American Commission in 1997. In 2001, the body declared the Colombian State responsible for the violation of Cano's rights to life and freedom of expression, as well as for failures in guarantees and judicial protection. The IACHR also noted that the violence and difficulties surrounding the investigation created an intimidation effect on the press, and recommended compensation for the journalist's family members.
However, the Court questioned the time the State took to advance on this compensation. Although the IACHR recommended compensating the family from 2001 and reactivated monitoring of compliance with those recommendations in 2018, only in 2026 did the State's National Agency for Legal Defence present the settlement request.
Terms of the compensation agreement
The agreement provides for 300 monthly legal minimum wages in force for moral damage to Cano's wife and children. The Court considered that, given the deficiencies in the investigation and effective compensation, it was justified to apply the maximum set out in jurisprudence for cases of serious human rights violations.
Additionally, compensation for lost earnings was recognised in favour of the wife and two of the children, who were under 25 years of age when their father died. The agreement took as reference that Cano worked as director of El Espectador and received remuneration at the time of his death. The claim presented by the family members for this concept amounted to $548,737,931, according to the Court's ruling.
Source: Google News CO — Crime