The 25-year-old, originally from Villavicencio and suffering from a degenerative genetic disease, addressed President Gustavo Petro from the Morelia prison in Michoacán.
The Colombian man remains detained in Michoacán on charges of belonging to a cell of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. His defense maintains that he was a victim of human trafficking and kidnapping, and that the material and testimonial evidence proves his innocence.
The legal proceedings are ongoing, while his family and lawyers are requesting diplomatic intervention from the Colombian government to guarantee his safety and the right to a fair trial.
María Elvira Arango, director of the program “Los Informantes,” asked the president to meet with him to discuss the case of the Colombian man with a genetic disease who was allegedly lured to Mexico under false pretenses.
“Good afternoon, Mr. President of the Republic. You told me today, with all your heart and with all your sincerity, that I want to beg you, Mr. President, because you are the only one who can help me in this situation I find myself in, in which I am unjustly accused, without conclusive evidence, and in which I have already been here in this prison for a year,” Cano said, visibly exhausted, in a video broadcast by the Noticias Caracol program.
The young man insisted on his plea with words that sought to move the will of the State: “I want to ask you, please, to give me just one chance to return home, to my country; to embrace my family, my brothers, in which this is a very difficult and very hard situation for me. I beg you, before God, to help me. You are the only person who can help me in this situation I find myself in.”
The origin of the case: a job offer that turned into a nightmare
According to an investigation by journalists Natalia Herrera and Beatriz Guillén for the regional newspaper El País, Cano left Colombia after receiving a job offer in computer systems, financed by a supposed parcel delivery company. It was his first international trip and he was hoping for a stable job.
Upon arriving in Guadalajara, Jalisco, he was intercepted by members of the CJNG cartel, who held him for two weeks and subjected him to torture. His captors intended to force him to carry out cyberattacks, although his inner circle maintains that he didn’t even have the specialized knowledge for such tasks.
Cano’s story took an unexpected turn when the Mexican National Guard raided the place where he was being held captive. Instead of being recognized as a victim, he was presented to the authorities as a member of the criminal organization, with the alias Guacamaya (Guacamaya) and linked to the FEM cell, allegedly under the orders of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho.
A key anonymous complaint filed on May 20, 2025, was submitted by a Venezuelan man who claimed to have been kidnapped under the same circumstances as Cano. He described the presence of other undocumented victims and the existence of military-grade weapons at the ranch where they were both held.
Although this account supports Cano’s claim of being a victim of human trafficking, it has not yet been enough to convince the Mexican justice system.
Cano’s defense maintains that there are inconsistencies in the court file and that the material and physical evidence demonstrates the impossibility of the young man, weighing only 50 kilos and suffering from multiple limitations due to Marfan syndrome, having been part of an elite criminal unit.
Source: infobae
