Gunmen with rifles shot and killed one of Latin America's most famous folk singers, Facundo Cabral, on Saturday
The Argentine singer and novelist was on his way to Guatemala's main airport when gunmen attacked his vehicle, hitting him with at least eight bullets, said city fire department spokesman Jose Rodriguez. He said Cabral's concert promoter Henry Farina also was wounded. The motive was not clear.
Cabral rose to fame in the early 1970s, one of a generation of singers who mixed political protest with literary lyrics and created deep bonds with an audience struggling through an era of revolution and repression across Latin America.
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said he had called his Argentine counterpart Cristina Fernandez to tell her of the slaying.
"It seemed to hit her hard and she asked me to keep her informed about how the investigation is developing," he toldArgentina's Radio 10. Colom said officials were interviewing survivors and witnesses and analyzing images from video monitors in the area.
"Adios, amigo," tweeted Argentina's foreign minister, Hector Timerman, in a message that expressed "profound sadness" at the murder.
Some evidence suggested that the killing was not a simple robbery. Cabral was riding in a truck that tried to flee the attackers by driving into a fire station. He was accompanied by a second vehicle carrying bodyguards, according to Guatemalan television station Notisiete.
Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said agents apparently found one of the vehicles used in the attack, abandoned along the highway to El Salvador. It said it was pocked with bullet holes and spent cartridges were found inside.
Cabral, who walked with aid of a cane and had trouble with his vision in later years, lost his wife and a 1-year-old daughter in a plane crash in 1978.
"I love life so much because it cost me so much to enjoy it," he told The Associated Press in an interview in 2008.
"From the cradle to the grave is a school, so if what we call problems are lessons, we see life differently," he said.
His most famous song, "No soy de aqui ni alla" — "I'm Not From Here or There — was recorded about 700 times in 27 languages.
A proud vagabond since his impoverished childhood doing odd jobs in the Argentine streets, Cabral said he would like to die while on a concert tour. "The song is very secondary," he said. "It's like recreation."
Cabral gave his last concert Thursday in the city of Quetzaltenango, 120 miles (200 kilometers) west of Guatemala City.
The Argentine singer and novelist was on his way to Guatemala's main airport when gunmen attacked his vehicle, hitting him with at least eight bullets, said city fire department spokesman Jose Rodriguez. He said Cabral's concert promoter Henry Farina also was wounded. The motive was not clear.
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said he had called his Argentine counterpart Cristina Fernandez to tell her of the slaying.
"It seemed to hit her hard and she asked me to keep her informed about how the investigation is developing," he toldArgentina's Radio 10. Colom said officials were interviewing survivors and witnesses and analyzing images from video monitors in the area.
"Adios, amigo," tweeted Argentina's foreign minister, Hector Timerman, in a message that expressed "profound sadness" at the murder.
Some evidence suggested that the killing was not a simple robbery. Cabral was riding in a truck that tried to flee the attackers by driving into a fire station. He was accompanied by a second vehicle carrying bodyguards, according to Guatemalan television station Notisiete.
Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said agents apparently found one of the vehicles used in the attack, abandoned along the highway to El Salvador. It said it was pocked with bullet holes and spent cartridges were found inside.
Cabral, who walked with aid of a cane and had trouble with his vision in later years, lost his wife and a 1-year-old daughter in a plane crash in 1978.
"I love life so much because it cost me so much to enjoy it," he told The Associated Press in an interview in 2008.
"From the cradle to the grave is a school, so if what we call problems are lessons, we see life differently," he said.
His most famous song, "No soy de aqui ni alla" — "I'm Not From Here or There — was recorded about 700 times in 27 languages.
A proud vagabond since his impoverished childhood doing odd jobs in the Argentine streets, Cabral said he would like to die while on a concert tour. "The song is very secondary," he said. "It's like recreation."
Cabral gave his last concert Thursday in the city of Quetzaltenango, 120 miles (200 kilometers) west of Guatemala City.
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