The person that he is, with each and every one of the principles that characterize him, is faithfully reflected in his actions in the face of the corollaries of the accident. He claims not to hold a grudge against the people who planted the mine. People he never saw, whose names he does not know.
By Cristian Gasca and Óscar Durán.
Juan David Cañas was born in Anserma, a small Caldas municipality located a little more than thirty kilometers west of Manizales. Of peasant origin, he worked since he was ten years old in multiple trades commissioned by his father: he was a day laborer, a quarryman and, influenced by family designs, he also worked as an acolyte in one of the local churches, where he would begin to relate to the strong Catholic tradition of the place. The prevailing pre-Columbian architecture, the crucifixes and camandulas that stood out in the homes and the ostentatious main parish church highlighted the religious erudition of Ansermeña that Juan David had known since he was a child.
At the same time he was working, he was also advancing his high school education, which he completed in December 2010. Once he graduated from high school, Juan David immediately applied to the National Police to become a regular auxiliary.
a war film produced by Caracol Televisión in alliance with the National Army.
It dramatized the missions and exploits of military combatants in the armed conflict, as well as their operations against drug cartels and guerrilla targets. This narrative inspired Juan David to be part of similar operations. He was eager to join a tactical operations team in one of the branches of law enforcement. He made it his goal to serve.
His career began after being accepted at the Alejandro Gutiérrez Carabineros School, where he was assigned to perform duties in the municipality of San Carlos, Antioquia, for four months and, subsequently, in the former Cerro Gordo, later renamed Cerro Chapecoense in honor of the victims of the fatal plane crash of the Brazilian soccer team of the same name, which ended in that place. After serving for a little more than a year in that land, Juan David then saw the opportunity to apply for the position of patrolman; this is the next hierarchical rank to which a member of the police force can aspire once he has started from the position of auxiliary.
“I talked to my family, I asked them to get me five hundred thousand pesos on loan, and they did: they raised it for me. Thank God I passed and took the course. It was their effort, they mortgaged their little house and managed to lend me the money,” recalls the now 32-year-old man. His training was completed in December 2012, only six months of training were necessary because Juan David had already been a reservist in the institution, so he was then appointed, already as a patrolman, to work in the department of Cauca. It was a brief experience, since only five months passed before he had the opportunity to apply for a new call, this time with the objective of joining the Special Operations and Anti-Terrorism Command (COPES).
Major General Victor Alberto Delgado Mallarino gave, in January 1984, the order to create this unit affiliated to the Citizen Security Directorate (DISEC). The unit was created to confront a series of terrorist acts of an urban nature that destabilized public order in various sectors of the country, terrorizing the civilian population. Likewise, the Command would also firmly combat the subversive activities of insurgent groups. Dios y Patria. COPES currently has 13 officers, 19 non-commissioned officers and 78 patrolmen ready exclusively to execute high-risk special operations. It is now extending its functions mainly to rural territory. It is an elite team of the National Police. The best of the best.
Juan David joined this unit after applying in December 2013 and completing the corresponding training. For years, he successfully participated in tactical operations against different illegal groups: FARC, ELN, EPL and the Clan del Golfo. In much less time than he could have imagined, he was already realizing the dream he had witnessed years ago in fictional representation through the television broadcasts of Canal Uno. He was a man of honor, like Captain Francisco Rivera (played by actor Juan Carlos Gutiérrez); who survived in one of those chapters a dangerous mission against alias “El Buitre” in the Magdalena Medio. There, the Captain experienced the insurmountable sensation of fear that threatened to quickly turn into panic; and he would also entrust himself, without hesitation, to the heavenly protection that forged in his person an immovable belief. Future reality and past fiction. Similar men.
It was Monday, August 10, 2020, the same date in which the country was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Juan David was entrusted to participate in one of the usual, but never easy, high-risk operations of COPES, this time against a valuable target of the National Liberation Army (ELN), located in Las Mercedes, a small village located in a rural area of the municipality of Sardinata, in Norte de Santander.
The place has a long history of violence. To begin with, its location and difficult access make it a highly strategic site for the presence of armed guerrilla groups, such as the one they now face. The only way to reach it by land is through a turbulent unpaved road that is largely due to the naturally adverse and chaotic conditions of the imposing eastern mountain range. Once those who pass through, if they manage to do so at all, they arrive at specific points near the peaks of the hills, from where they can make out the expanses of land on which numerous coca crops lie.
Accompanied by one of the other members of the unit, Juan David was walking through this threatening environment in the course of his work. In the middle of his movement, that man, who was in front of Juan David walking a little less than a meter away from him, triggered a hidden antipersonnel mine by positioning himself partially over it. He lost one of his legs. It happened immediately. In the same instantaneous lapse of time, Juan David received the full impact of the explosion from the lower trunk area: in his abdomen, chest and neck; simultaneously reaching his face. No more than five seconds elapsed between the detonation and the time it took them to assimilate what had just happened.
“Don’t let me die, save me, help me! The exaltation of his companion’s words in a desperate tone remains vivid in the memory of Juan David, who managed to promptly rescue the man despite also being seriously injured, the same reason that makes him question the way he managed to act. He believes it was the grace of God.
“The reality is that I violated security protocols; both in Police tactical teams and in any other military action group, the instruction we are given, if we happen to fall into a minefield, is to remain still and wait for the soldiers from outside to arrive on the scene and find a safe route. I didn’t. I wasn’t able to stand there and listen to my buddy pleading for help”.
When Juan David then got up in a titanic effort to help the man, he saw the hemorrhage in his pelvic area, consequent to the limb that had just separated from his body. He soon assisted him with basic nursing first aid, placed the tourniquet of his equipment and, in an almost instinctive instinct of a combatant, quickly grabbed his weapon, warning of the possibility that those responsible for the artifact might attack them by surprise from one of the flanks adjacent to the area. Fortunately, this did not happen. By that time, Juan David had temporarily lost all of his vision in his left eye, while his right eye was in a tenuous state. The inflammation was burning through his facial pores and numerous splinters dimmed his eyelids. He did not see the light again for five days.
They were transferred to San José hospital, in Cúcuta, after an air rescue facilitated by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that arrived at Las Mercedes two hours after the accident. The vehicle did not land, a group of soldiers of the National Army descended to the place to secure Juan David and his companion on a swing stretcher, according to the protocol principles of rescue for wounded in combat. Subsequently, they were lifted by the aircraft and taken to the aforementioned medical center. Juan David was conscious all the time, but did not see anything. The entirety of what happened during that period was later narrated to him by his companions. Once he was stabilized, he was taken to a new point of attention with the corresponding specialty to carry out the surgeries required for his eyes, which was the San Diego clinic, also located in the capital of North Santander.
The diagnosis was precise: corneal lesions, tears in the pupil and general inflammation. The ocular body in the central part of Juan David’s iris acquired an elongated shape that causes the abrupt entry of light to generate intense pain. He was finally able to see through his right eye after the fifth day. However, the other cavity required two additional surgeries of greater complexity. This was enough for him to remember with incalculable courage that he was alive. He always put his intact vitality before the arduous condition resulting from the injuries he had received, both physical and psychological. And now, after doubting he would ever be able to do so again, he could see. He could see, thank God.
He received the necessary pair of interventions on his left eye between the 28th and 29th of that same month. In the first instance, he underwent a vitrectomy, a surgical procedure that consists of removing an external fragment lodged in the vitreous body of the orbital cavity. In addition, an intraocular lens was implanted, thanks to which he was able to recover his general vision. The sequelae involve extreme sensitivity to sudden changes of light in the environment, and these alternations can even cause temporary blindness in the left eye, which was mostly affected by the accident. It is also difficult to identify letters and numbers at close range, an effect similar to that produced by farsightedness.
The dazzling visual condition then became part of Juan David’s daily life. It has become a habit for him to experience this type of momentary blindness when he finds himself in a dark place after being exposed to a considerably brighter environment. His left eye takes four to six minutes to adjust to the change and, in the meantime, it is impossible for him to see. The rest of his now recovered body bears other underlying marks, such as the scars on his face, which to this day seem few in comparison to the scars he bore just weeks after the accident. He assures that anyone who does not know him could not imagine, just by looking at him, that he lived through such a situation. Nor would he have believed it.
“Who is really with you in those moments is your family: mom, dad and siblings,” reflects Juan David. His loved ones did not immediately find out what had happened in that distant village located just fifty kilometers from the Colombian-Venezuelan border. He told them that, while working, he had suffered a heavy fall, the impact of which had injured him. In accordance with this hurried version, he also assured them that he would undergo knee surgery to treat his cruciate ligament and that, additionally, they would have to take a new X-ray. Even Catholic texts say that the truth always comes out.
“I don’t believe what you are telling me, I feel it is something else. Tell me the truth”, was the request with which Juan David’s mother approached him on the third day after being informed of what supposedly happened. He himself received the message with the disbelief that characterizes those who do not reveal clues or omens in their eagerness to protect those they love from the truth. Maternal love. Sixth sense. Whatever it was. As inexplicable as the tenacity with which some people face catastrophe and fear.
Once Juan David decided to reveal to his relatives the reality of what had happened, he made a video call with them and began to recall the events, now out loud. Out of his mind. They were certainly supportive. In spite of the shock they all felt as they came to terms with the situation, they let him know that he had their unconditional support. They encouraged him and entrusted him to God. Everyone needs the closeness and support of their loved ones, acts that transcend into words of encouragement and mental vigor; even so, for Juan David they are not far from being additional. He tenaciously overcomes what has happened and, without making it invisible either, he placates that past with admirable conviction in the face of the satisfaction of continuing to live. For him, it is part of the path he has chosen. It is what represents him, with pride, to serve in totality the work he longed for since he was very young, even with the fear of each operative. The fear of every mission. God and Homeland. Ultimately and again.
The person that Juan David is, with each and every one of the principles that characterize him, is faithfully reflected and transferred to his actions in the face of the corollaries of the accident. He claims not to hold a grudge against the people who planted the mine. People he never saw, whose names he does not know. He believes that, whoever they are, they have strong personal motives to be part of insurgencies that plant explosive devices as traps to mutilate fellow men. He does not perceive himself as a judge or perhaps a ruler with the capacity to rule on the moral validity of such causes. What he does firmly defend is that, in his worldview, the right thing to do is to be on the side of the law and the Constitution.
It is precisely this conviction in rootedness of the values and thoughts he defends that leads him to reflect on why he has to continue on the same path and why institutions such as the National Police are responsible for a fundamental role of a social nature. “Colombians still need to advance a lot in the culture of respecting others, of accepting their decisions and freedoms. For me, the Police today fulfills this essential role of enforcing respect for the rights and freedoms of each person. The fact that you believe something and that someone walking on the opposite side of the road thinks differently, that this is valid”. It is concise: intolerance in the face of indifference as a source of dispute is a reality that aggravates the impossibility of mediation between plausible disagreements. The result: violence.
The value of joining one of the branches of the public force, be it the police or the military, is related precisely to that degree of responsibility and commitment. The sacrifice, on many occasions, is unconditional and implies permanent exposure to the fear of risking one’s life. Juan David, long before the accident, experienced that same fear in every mission, in every moment. For every second.
He always assimilated the blatant sensation and cushioned it with audacity; even when, in exceptional conditions of unprecedented operations, a group of almost two dozen armed guerrilla fighters moved less than ten meters from his position without his presence being noticed while he camouflaged himself in the undergrowth, with the almost intolerable pressure of avoiding even the slightest false step. Fear never disappears, it is only adopted. In this regard, a late chief quartermaster, Mr. Flores, whom Juan David remembers with great admiration, would remind him on more than one occasion of the only two reasons why the feeling of fear would desist from its crusade in the heart of a soldier. Because he does nothing. Or because he is dead.
Every hero assimilates his experiences in a different way, even and even more, after going through an accident that compromised his life and integrity, as it happened to Juan David. He himself, who overcame what happened, admires the same in fellow professionals such as Eider Parra, who was part of the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of the National Police. “He lacks fingers, he lacks both feet… But he doesn’t lack energy. I worked with him before he retired due to his work disability. I say that he had a lot more things happen to him and, even so, he gave me encouragement too. I always wondered how he was able to keep going,” he recalls.
This overcoming and adapting to a completely new everyday life is an extensive process that, for Juan David, depends on various conditioning factors that have a continuous influence. He believes that the most important thing is to have conviction about what you most want once the event has occurred. It is simple to think about it, complex to assimilate it. It is a decision, a priori, intomitable; between staying in the inescapable stagnant regret or continuing, even if this implies multiplying the positive value of all the innate conditions and capacities that one still possesses. It is part of what Juan David experienced, the perpetuating swell of thoughts about the underlying conditions was no less: “Will the injury to my eye make me less of a person? the inability to drive? the inability to drive? to give in to chaos?”. Always no. He is alive. He is able to do what he needs to do on a daily basis to supply his basic needs and quite a few more. That’s what he had before August 10, 2020, and he rejoices in it.
She has also identified activities and habits that help her when her spirits flag in the midst of complex fluctuating episodes. He relies on his love of cycling, even taking the time to compete sporadically as long as his work schedule allows. He sees himself as very cheerful and optimistic; that he still maintains those qualities after more than four years of living with the accident’s regularity shows how much these aptitudes characterize him.
Currently, he works in the specialized judicial group of the police of which Eider Parra was also a member: the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of the institution. He is in charge of integrating the operational logistics against money laundering criminal cases. Juan David has also completed his professional studies as a public accountant; he is now taking the last course to graduate as a specialist in Strategic Marketing Management.
Despite his achievements, he has never hidden or set aside the passion he feels for the work of the public force, a feeling he experiences with the same intensity today as he did back when he was just in his first years of service. Maybe a little more so now. “I feel very proud, not only for what I have done, but for the work of the police in general. A secret of mine is that whenever I’m at an event or ceremony and I hear the national anthem, my hair stands on end. I don’t know if it was the course for the COPES, which was the one that demanded the most from me… A very hard preparation, but it made me become very fond of the institution. It made me love my flag, my country”, he recalls.
One of his biggest future goals is to return to training a large number of new police officers. While at COPES, Juan David had the opportunity to train ensigns who were about to graduate as officers in various areas: he instructed them in close combat principles, vehicular movements and shooting techniques. During his personal training, he also excelled in land navigation skills, so he knows how to use GPS devices and how to locate himself in adverse environments.
He wants to contribute in this way because he considers that he has “burned out” the stage in which he experienced all kinds of dangers in missions that stimulated his adrenaline in a formidable way for a long time. Jumping from a Black Hawk helicopter hundreds of meters above the ground and guarding positions in armed confrontations are things of the past. The increasingly distant past.
These are days when he is dedicated to his work and family life. He has two sons. One of them follows in his father’s footsteps working as an acolyte. Beliefs and faith. It runs in the family. “My love, go, don’t sleep so late, go and sleep,” he says to her as he recalls all his history until he finds himself in the present moment. A moment in which she is already safe and, now, in charge of making sure that someone else under her mantle is safe as well. He entrusts his son to God, as his parents did with him. And as it turned out. His unshakable beliefs are the basis and driving force of his actions: an antidote to fear and a protective guarantee. A father understands this.
Surely his son will never experience the same terror he did. For heroes, there is nothing better than sacrificing your own self in the face of adversity while safeguarding the hopes of others. Care for and protect, whether it be a son or a country. That is the definition of a hero. One of many.
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