Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the story of Alejandro Eder — today the mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city — is drawing fresh attention. Eder was living in New York in 2001 and was among the witnesses to the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, killing 2,977 people.
According to Colombian news accounts revisited on the attacks’ 25th anniversary, Eder had planned to be at the Twin Towers that very morning. A last-minute change in his schedule kept him away from the towers before the hijacked planes struck, a detail that appears to have saved his life.
The United States marked the somber anniversary this week with ceremonies honoring the victims of the coordinated attacks, which also targeted the Pentagon and, in a fourth hijacked plane, crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. A quarter-century later, the tragedy is being remembered by a generation that includes many who did not live through it directly, even as its aftermath — including the long conflicts it triggered — continues to shape global politics.
For Cali, the story adds a personal dimension to a national day of remembrance, connecting a Colombian public figure directly to one of the defining events of the early 21st century.
To read the full story, visit El Tiempo.
Source: Detalle que le salvó la vida a Alejandro Eder, alcalde de Cali, el 11 de septiembre: iba a las Torres Gemelas (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: thienzieyung, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).