Hernán Roberto Franco does not know that a hitman is waiting for him.
It is 7:27 this Wednesday when the businessman's car enters the parking lot of a building in Parque de la 93, north of Bogotá.
The vehicle stops and Franco gets out of the back seat.
He wears a jacket and tie: he has an important meeting.
With his right hand he answers a call and with the other he closes the car door.
He starts walking towards the building.
He doesn't see what's behind him, but, as has happened time and time again this violent February in the Colombian capital, the security cameras capture everything.
Suddenly a man runs into the parking lot.
He wears black shoes, black pants, a black sweatshirt, a black mask, a black cap and in his right hand he carries a pistol with a silencer.
He approaches Franco from behind and, without his victim realizing it, shoots him.
He immediately turns around to run out of the parking lot.
He barely makes it out before the automatic door closes.
Franco's bodyguard pulls out a gun and chases him but closes the door in his face.
He gets stranded inside.
The exchange lasts about six seconds: everything was planned.
Moments later, the reception security cameras capture another chilling scene.
The businessman continues talking on the phone as if nothing was happening.
The camera films the right side of him;
It appears that he has not been injured.
He hangs up the call.
Pause.
He rocks back and forth.
Limping, he turns around and reveals a stain of blood covering his left cheek.
For a moment he leans against the desk in the hall.
He holds the cell phone with both hands as if he were going to send a message.
He does not do it.
His body gives up.
He collapses.
While Franco is lying on the ground inside the building, outside the hitman who attacked him gets on a motorcycle that was waiting for him.
He doesn't start.
He steals another one and runs away.
His accomplice – Jean Karlo Bermúdez Camargo, 26 years old, Colombian nationality – does not have the same luck.
Franco's bodyguard and security guards from a nearby business shoot him.
He is captured after the shooting and transferred to the El Country Clinic, in Chapinero.
Franco is also admitted to a nearby clinic, but he arrives too late, there is nothing to do.
He dies.
Insecurity in Bogotá
The videos of the hitman took over social networks this Wednesday.
The city has been hit in recent weeks by a wave of restaurant robberies and shootings, especially in the north, the most affluent area.
The south, as is usually the case, has not escaped either.
Many of these attacks have been recorded and published on the news and social media.
This Thursday, the United States embassy in Colombia recommended that its citizens take extreme care when visiting the country and made special mention of the insecurity in Bogotá.
President Gustavo Petro joined the debate this Friday morning.
“The national government will assist Mayor Galán in his current security commitment to the city,” he declared.
However, he argued that homicides have decreased in the capital and that “the extreme right is irresponsibly playing with people's fear.”
According to a report published on February 2 by the Mayor's Office, Petro would be right.
The figures showed, compared to January of last year, that theft from people was reduced by 20% and homicides decreased by 23%.
But that was three weeks ago;
three weeks of robberies.
Are they running a political campaign with death and fear?
In Bogotá, 3 homicides are committed every day on average.
There will always be a photo or journalistic comment.
But if there is objectivity and no manipulation, it would have to be said that it is the lowest average in the history of… https://t.co/Yr4aNVG0kK pic.twitter.com/3hxMjNBIyw
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 23, 2024
Bogotá is experiencing days of fear.
Complaints are heard daily.
They can mug you anywhere.
Having dinner, walking, returning from the supermarket.
Shortly after the images of the businessman's murder went viral, a spokesperson for the Bogotá Metropolitan Police explained that this case was different.
It wasn't a robbery that went wrong: they had Franco booked.
A planned death
The middle-aged man had been working since 2017 as a consultant for Supermercados Líder, a chain that has points throughout Bogotá.
With his two oldest children, he founded the company CNS Colombia in 2016 to offer “comprehensive, effective, and reliable solutions in the field of management, financial, legal, and corporate consulting.”
He also did audits.
Precisely, Colonel Juan Carlos Arévalo, commander of the Metropolitan Police, explained this Wednesday that Franco "had an appointment to report some irregularities that they had found in the audit they had carried out on a private company."
He was arriving at the CNS Colombia offices when they killed him.
“He did not appear inside a restaurant or a public establishment.
This is a direct attack on a citizen,” the police officer emphasized.
An investigation by
El Tiempo
seems to support the hypothesis that the murder was planned.
The hitmen had been in the sector before.
Security personnel in the area told the Bogotá newspaper that they had seen the criminal who was trapped "prowling the streets surrounding the 93rd park for a few days."
“These individuals had already been following up for three days, verifying the area.
They left her up there three times and said they were going to have breakfast, but they walked around various restaurants,” said a guard.
Another witness assured that he had also seen the motorcycle that the hitmen used in front of Franco's office last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
“I took her plates (...) because she seemed suspicious to me,” he said.
The family
The motives behind the hitman are still being investigated.
It is known that Franco had escorts, a driver and a high-profile family.
His brother, Óscar Franco, was director of the National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN) between 2005 and 2009, during the second presidency of Álvaro Uribe.
He also had several children.
His youngest daughter is five years old and her name is Juliet.
He had it with her ex-wife, the model and television presenter Alejandra Isaza Vélez.
The story of Franco and Isaza does not have a happy ending.
They separated in 2021 after she reported him on multiple occasions for domestic violence.
She then spoke about it on social networks.
“I can't give any more, it doesn't seem fair to me to have to live like this, in fear and being a victim of domestic and gender violence,” she declared.
After the breakup, Franco wanted to win custody of Julieta: he went to the First Family Commissioner, Usaquén I, in Bogotá, to request a measure of protection against her Isaza for “alleged conduct classified as domestic violence.”
Isaza responded to her husband's accusations and explained what she was experiencing: “This year they have abruptly separated me from my daughter three times with lies and manipulation of the system.
“I have legal proceedings against me.”
Desperate, the woman finally hired the Abelardo de la Espriella law firm to defend her.
In a video produced by the firm, Isaza and her lawyers gave their version of the events.
“Alejandra [Isaza] and her daughter are victims of domestic, physical, psychological and economic violence.
For this reason we take her cause as our own and we will defend her interests with care and dedication in order to restore her rights,” she declared.
Isaza was not in Bogotá when Franco was assassinated.
Shortly after her death, the woman told
El Tiempo
that she was “getting ready to travel immediately to Bogotá.”
“My daughter still doesn't know what happened,” she added.
Then, through her Instagram account, where she has 200,000 followers, she asked for respect from the various media outlets that asked her for interviews.
“At the moment I have not made nor do I intend to make any statement to the media.
“It is a difficult time for my daughter's father's family, for me and my daughter,” she admitted.
That night he published a photo of Julieta.
The girl is crouched in front of a candle, her eyes closed, her small hands together resting on the floor.
The image is accompanied by a song: “
Although my eyes can no longer see you, I can feel you, I know you are here
.”
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