A generation later, Colombian author rescues murdered father from ‘oblivion’

A generation later, Colombian author rescues murdered father from ‘oblivion’
By Juan Forero, Updated: Friday, August 24, 6:34 AM

MEDELLIN, Colombia — Moments after assassins pumped six bullets into his father’s head and chest, Hector Abad Faciolince slumped next to the body on a downtown street, devastated but convinced he would one day pay homage to his life.

Thousands of mourners waving white handkerchiefs turned out for Hector Abad Gomez’s funeral, stunned by a senseless killing of a well-known doctor that seemed to signal Colombia’s descent into chaos in the 1980s. In a shadowy, drug-fueled conflict, many more would die at the hands of rogue military units, Marxist guerrillas, cocaine cartels and a right-wing paramilitary force whose hit men are believed to have killed Abad.

But in the years following the politically motivated slaying, the young writer struggled time and again to tell the most compelling story he knew. Now, after years of false starts, “Oblivion,” Abad’s passionate tribute to his father and a shattering chronicle of Colombia’s violence, has been published in the United States to strong critical reviews.

It is a memoir about a jovial father who was also a formidable intellectual, humanitarian doctor and political radical whose outspokenness about the injustices in this country triggered a murderous rage among reactionary forces.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/colombian-author-recounts-fathers-murder/2012/08/24/7e74a33a-eb97-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html?wprss=rss_world