A retired journalist who joined the criminal underworld while researching a book on South America’s drug cartels became the first Colombian, and possibly the first Latin American, to be executed in China for drug The execution Monday night of Ismael Arciniegas occurred amid a last-ditch diplomatic effort by Colombia’s government to save the 72-year-old’s life. Arciniegas was arrested in 2010 arriving by plane to the southern port city of Guangzhou trying to smuggle almost 4 kilograms of cocaine in exchange for $5,000.