Juan Carlos Gumucio writing a story on deadline
about the "Troubles" from the Europa hotel in Belfast, Northern
Ireland in 1998.
War Correspondent
Born 52 years ago in Cochabamba,
Bolivia same place where he died on February 26th, 2002.
One extraordinary writer indeed,
Juan Carlos covered extensively the war in Lebanon and the conflict's in the
Middle East, the war in Croatia and Bosnia, the troubles in Northern Ireland
and most recently the Kosovo crisis straight from Belgrade, Serbia. He had
been a Journalist since 1968 and began at Radio Centro in Bolivia, later he
worked for the
Associated Press, CBS, the London Times and El Pais of Spain.
We met while on assignment in Belfast in 1998
and soon became
friends. He was a very clever and experience writer based in London for the
Spanish daily El Pais. I was very impressed by his writings and reporting and
so he earned my respect and admiration very fast, like no other writer.
He was a true go getter. I saw him last , one morning in Belfast
in front of the Europa Hotel, as he yield out from a taxi "Oye Viejo".
while the car pulled next to me. "Going to meet King Rat for an exclusive,
are you coming?" he said.
I last spoke with him from Belfast in
1999 as we were trying to coordinate the coverage of the war in Kosovo. We
ended up separated and without communication, Juan Carlos in Belgrade in the
thick of the allied bombings and I in the Kosovo border and Albania among
shell fire and refugees. I lost touch with him the same year. It seems like he
vanished from the world. I tried to track him down several times
unsuccessfully, until early this morning on May 7th, in which I learn about
his faith. After 30 years of war reporting he has gone to the same place he
came from, to be away in seclusion. To write his memoirs and never return. He
cheated live, no bullet could hurt him but his own.
Children in Belfast
Playing with paper ships on a rain pond,
a glass of whiskey and a IRA talk,
a glass of whiskey and a laugh.
