| Barrancabermeja is economically one of the most important cities in Colombia. This relatively small city, with a population of 250,000, houses the headquarters of Ecopetrol, the national oil company. It is also one of the assassination capitals in Colombia, where people are waging a 40-year old civil war.
One day I met an assassin - or sicario in Spanish. �gI know killing someone is bad, but this is my life. I can make my life by this job. I also kill guerrillas and robbers�cthey are like social diseases. So I need to do it.�h Daniel is a father of two children. He earns just 200 US dollars per month. �gPay is not so good,�h he says, �gbut there is no other job. If there was, many assassins might quit. But I can�ft say anything about myself.�h Daniel has mixed feelings, and he doubts what he is doing. But he also says he feels obligations toward the AUC (United Self-Defense Force of Colombia) who built a house for his family and helped improve their lives.
Daniel chooses to live as an assassin in a world where violence is ordinary and people cannot realize the meaning of the word �erichness�f. He feels becoming an assassin is his only choice to be recognized by society. This is the story of the life of an assassin. |