You Couldn't Kill Me

"This book is an ode to gratitude" – Ciro Gómez Leyva

"I didn’t survive by a miracle. I was saved by the car’s armor, the clumsiness of some mediocre hitmen, and the hesitation of an uneasy president who either wouldn’t—or couldn’t—give the order to finish me off. I was saved by chance, by circumstance, by the weakness of the executioners, and by the will that made me repeat to myself that life goes on, and it can be better.

Here I am, still wondering whether this is the story of a triumphant survival or a ridiculous string of failures. At this point, what does it even matter?"*

On December 15, 2022, Ciro Gómez Leyva—the most listened-to journalist in Mexico—stared down death and survived an attempt on his life. These pages tell his powerful testimony and reveal the author’s reflections on the fragility of life and its nearness to the end.

This event made him the journalist who lived—who could not be silenced by fear, by sorrow, or by the man who tried to bring him down.