Colombian Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel García Marquez, and former Colombian President, Julio César Turbay Ayala, whose government in 1981 was accused of forcing the novelist into exile, were reconciled during a meeting at Casa de Campo in La Romana that lasted seven hours. Mr Turbay was president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982, and Gabriel García Marquez was regarded as one of the most radical critics of his administration, especially because of the torture of dissidents, militarism, and the persecution of intellectuals.
He met with the former statesman to show him the draft of his next book, “Noticia de un secuestro.” It tells the story of nine journalists taken as hostages, one by one, at the end of 1990, by order of the then head of the Medellín Drug Cartel, Pablo Escobar, who was shot dead by the police in 1993. The journalists, including a daughter of the former President, Diana Turbay, who later died in a failed rescue operation, were tricked by the guerrilla leaders on the pretext of granting an interview. Mr García Marquez met with the nearly 80 year old Mr Turbay for the first time in his quest for accuracy in his book. He said the ex-president had no comments after reading the volume in one sitting.