Who Is Jubiz? | ¿Quién es Jubiz?

Los Angeles, California | Film Feature

Documentary

Stephanie Martinez

1 Campaigns | California, United States

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This campaign raised $6,168 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.

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Who is Jubiz? exposes the little-known story of Alberto Jubiz Hazbúm, the scapegoat for the assassination of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento in 1989. The film also recounts his battle against an entire system and shares his writings made from within prison walls.

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The Story

Who is Jubiz? exposes the little-known story of Alberto Jubiz Hazbúm, the scapegoat for the assassination of a beloved presidential candidate. The film also recounts his battle against an entire system and shares his writings made from within prison walls.

 

Alberto Jubiz Hazbúm was a Colombian chemical engineer of Lebanese descent who was wrongfully accused of one of the most significant crimes in Colombia’s history. Alberto is my stepfather's father.

 

More than 25 years later, the murder remains unsolved. However, we now know that the assassination was ordered by the Medellin cartel and executed with the help of highly-placed government officials. The trial of one of those officials is currently unfolding. This grant will allow me to document the judicial process of a crime that profoundly affected not only his family, but also the whole country.

 

SYNOPSIS

 

In 1989, Jubiz Hazbúm was accused of assassinating a prominent presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento. Galan Sarmiento was widely predicted to win the election. The Medellin cartel was worried about the approval of an extradition treaty.  A pact that Galan Sarmiento had said would approve if he win the elections. On the political side, his enemies feared Galan’s increasing power and popularity would isolate them from their voters. One of those is convicted former minister, Alberto Santofimio.

 

Four days after the murder, Jubiz Hazbúm was arrested and incarcerated. His claims of innocence fell on deaf ears. A number of witnesses with questionable motives came forward to condemn him. Witnesses who were initially willing to attest to his alibi were mysteriously silenced. From his jail cell, Jubiz Hazbúm found himself entangled in a conspiracy concocted by high-level government officials along with the world’s most powerful drug lords.


This event could not have happened without several years of increasingly pervasive corruption, as the power of the drug cartels interacted with a dysfunctional government heavily influenced by a civil war between communist guerrillas, paramilitaries and the government’s military forces. This film will provide the necessary background for the viewer to understand how an ordinary citizen might find himself entangled in such a situation, made possible when the structures of both government and law enforcement are co-opted by criminal forces.

 

TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION
 
Your donation is tax deductible!!! Who is Jubiz? is a fiscally sponsored project of the International Documentary Association (IDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions on behalf ofWho is Jubiz? are payable to IDA and are tax deductible less the value of any goods or services received, as allowed by law. The value of goods and services being offered is noted under each donation level. If you would like to deduct the entire donation you have the option to simply decline the reward at check out.
 
 

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About This Team

A native of Barranquilla, Colombia, Stephanie is a multimedia journalist and anchor in the Greater Los Angeles area. She previously worked as a reporter at WUVC (Univision 40) in Raleigh, NC, and anchored their 6:00 pm and 11:00 pm newscast two to three days per week. Stephanie also worked for Voice of America in Washington, DC, producing, editing, and reporting daily national news stories for TV and the web. Her daily tasks also included live TV news updates for international affiliates and reporting daily news feeds for two international radio stations. As a freelance reporter at WZDC Telemundo Washington for almost four years, she covered top stories ranging from controversial immigration issues to heated political topics brewing on Capitol Hill.

In 2014, Stephanie produced and directed a feature-length documentary called Uncensored: Narco Journalism. Through the lives of three Colombian journalists, the film recounts the peril journalists endured while covering Colombia’s narcoterrorism violence in the 1980s during the reign of Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel, throughout the 1990s during the rise of corruption in the military, and in the 2000s during a behind-closed-doors oppressive administration. For more info about Uncensored, please visit the website (uncensoredthedoc.com).

Stephanie graduated with a Masters of Professional Studies in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park, in December 2014. She holds a Bachelor’s in Marketing with a minor in Electronic Journalism from George Mason University. She also attended the New York Film Academy for a Broadcast Journalism workshop, and is currently pursuing a Certificate in Documentary Studies at Duke University.

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