Eight days ago, I had no idea who the Colombian journalist Laura Ardila was, or that she was about to publish a book called our coastHe was even less familiar with the family or clan from Barranquilla with the surname Char, which was the subject of the journalist’s book, which apparently traces the network of power and corruption of this entrenched family on the Colombian north coast and which recalls parallel cases in different Latin American countries and , of course, in my country, Ecuador. The book in question would be published by the Colombian headquarters of Editorial Planeta. Ultimately it won’t. The argument put forward by the author is that the legal department of the publisher in Spain refused to publish. As a result, the Colombian literary editor Juan David Correa decided to resign as a sign of solidarity with the journalist, which implies distancing himself from the Spanish business decision and noting that whoever made the literary decision to accept the manuscript does not agree with it. it cannot, finally, coincide with censorship.

About Juan David Correa, on the other hand, I have a very precise idea. A writer, journalist, independent editor in his beginnings, a little over five years ago he continued to integrate the new phase of the publishing house Planeta in Colombia. During that time, he did exemplary work for Colombian literature, and in parallel with Ecuadorian literature. This has an explanation: the headquarters of Planeta Colombia is responsible for publishing the stamps in Ecuador, after the Quito branch was closed a few years ago. And not only that: books by Ecuadorian authors on the stamp are printed in Colombia and distributed in both countries. Until now, the work with Ecuadorian authors has been unique, from the revival of Ecuadorian classics such as Lupe Rumazo or Jorge Velasco Mackenzie, the continuity in the publication of consolidated authors such as Adolfo Macías Huerta, Carlos Arcos Cabrera, Óscar Vela and new narrative voices such as Ernesto Carrión, Mariasol Pons, Roberto Ramírez Paredes, Natalia García Freire, Edwin Alcarás, Rommel Manosalvas, Carlos Vásconez or Miguel Molina Díaz. Of course, in the case of Colombia, as the host country, it is much higher. Just to highlight the most notorious, complete works, in several volumes, of Andrés Caiced and the philosopher and essayist Estanislao Zuleta have been restored, and continuity is given to those of Tomás González, Miguel Torres and Roberto Burgos Cantor, as well as new narrators, such as Diana Ospina Obando, Andrea Mejía and other writers and essayists. It has been a long time since a catalog of such dimensions has been seen.

Roberto Calasso recalled in Publishing as a literary genre that “each of the books published by a certain publisher can be viewed as a link in the same chain, or a segment of a snake of books, or a fragment of one book composed of all the books published by that publisher.” I was thinking about this in regards to Juan David Correa. It’s a shame he missed out on his role as editor, but I’m not surprised. It was like the long-awaited trial by fire or the cutting off of the head of the Calasian Serpent. Sooner or later the intellectual and ethical engagement that sustained his editorial work will become visible. A commitment to literature in an open and diverse sense, with different registers, with a wide historical spectrum, and care to offer an amalgamation of styles and approaches, requires a mind that understands the longevity of literature, which also implies ethics. So it was inevitable that in the face of this much censorship, his literary editor had to say I’d rather not do it, that is, I’d rather not continue editing under these conditions because the border became visible at my door.

Now many readers know the implications of the Char family’s power in Barranquilla, know who Laura Ardila is, and know that sooner or later her book will come out. our coast. We do not know what the real reasons were for the final censorship. But above all, it is clear that there are editors like Juan David Correa who cannot work under the sword of censorship. A closed horizon is the problem of an editor who has to work daily with numerous authors who expect support for their literary, essayistic or journalistic commitment.

In 2021, a book by journalist Christopher Acosta was published in Peru under the title silver as a vessel, about the circle of power of the Peruvian politician César Acuña. Acuña filed a lawsuit and received a sentence by which the author was sentenced to two years in prison and payment of compensation for defamation, the verdict also reached the publisher. The author and publisher complained, and the reaction of the press and international organizations was final, so Acuña withdrew from the process. In Ecuador, we would have to go back a little further, to 2010, because of the persecution, if the then president had received the book Big Brother, Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, where the web of power of the presidential family was also unraveled, and in which the journalists finally won after an international campaign to reject the persecution. So it is always possible to fight.

Authors expect this ability to take risks from their publisher. If support is needed in the face of obscure obstructionists, the frightening reasons should be made visible and then the strengths of all involved should be added. For now, the recipient of the endorsement is outgoing editor Juan David Correa, who also launches an editorial column this week in the magazine To change, in such a way that we will continue to be familiar with his thinking, not through editorial, but through his pen. And, of course, we are waiting for Laura Ardila’s book, now much more visible thanks to the exemplary dedication of the publisher who decided to publish it anyway. (OR)