Orlando Sierra Hernández (September 21, 1959 - February 1, 2002) was a Colombian columnist and deputy director for La Patria newspaper in the capital of the Department of Caldas, Manizales, Colombia. He wrote a column and regularly criticized the corruption of the Colombian government. He was also a novelist and poet. Personal Orlando Sierra Hernández was born in Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, Colombia in 1959. As a child, Hernández struggled in both primary school and high school, but he always wanted to continue to study literature. He continued his studies at the Universidad de Caldas, where he studied the humanities, and the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, where he studied journalism. This education would give him the necessary skills to carry out his life as a journalist. He would become a professor and cultural center director at the Universidad de Caldas, but he always hoped to become a writer. Career Orlando Sierra Hernández became associated with La Patria newspaper around 1985 when he began writing a cultural column for the newspaper. He would later become the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and began writing his most well-known column, Punto de Encuentro (Translated: Meeting Point). This column began in 1990 and was a required reading in Colombia. In addition to this column, which openly criticized the corruption of Colombian politicians, Hernández wrote a novel called La estación de los sueños (The Season of Dreams) and three poetry books. At the time of his murder, Hernández was the deputy director of the newspaper and was always outspoken about the corruption he felt was unwarranted within the Colombia political system. He often called out Francisco Ferney Tapasco González on his corruption regarding his use of political office for personal gain at the expense of the people he was governing. Death Orlando Sierra Hernández's murder was something he himself thought would happen at some point. The murder occurred during the afternoon of January 30, 2002, when he and his daughter were walking back to La Patria headquarters from their lunch together. He was shot in the head two times with a revolver at close range by Luis Frenando Soto Zapata who was detained shortly after the shooting along with Luis Arley Ortiz. Sierra was rushed to a hospital where he died on February 1, 2002. Luis Frenando Soto Zapata claimed that he thought Orlando Sierra Hernández was the man who had killed a relation of