Gumucio worked as a journalist for over 30 years, having started his career in his hometown, Cochabamba, as a crime reporter for Los Tiempos and Radio Centro.
When AP ordered its foreign staff to leave Lebanon, after its bureau chief Terry Anderson had been kidnapped, Juan Carlos joined The Times and afterwards the Spanish daily El País, as its Middle East correspondent.
Robert Fisk would later describe Gumucio as "a big man with the energy of a hyperactive puppy dog and a deceptively mild, bland humour that concealed a dark understanding of his colleagues' weaknesses".
[1] Gumucio, who was known for his risque sense of humor and relentless reporting, was able to smuggle himself into Kosovo, after foreign journalists were denied entry, by posing as a "visiting professor of sociology" who wished to "show solidarity with the Serb people".
[1] After many years of battling depression and alcoholism, Gumucio, 52, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound 16 km (10 mi) outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia, on February 25, 2002.