Rodrigo Lara Bonilla

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Luis Carlos Galán, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla and his wife, Nancy Restrepo de Lara (1976)

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla (born August 11, 1946 in Neiva , † April 30, 1984 in Bogotá ) was a Colombian lawyer and politician . He served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur and was murdered at the behest of Pablo Escobar .

Life

Born in the southwestern Departamento del Huila , Lara studied law in Bogotá at the private Universidad Externado de Colombia . He joined the Movimiento Revolucionario Liberal . In 1969, at the age of 23, Lara became mayor of his hometown.

In August 1983, President Belisario Betancur appointed him Minister of Justice to succeed Bernardo Gaitán Mahecha . Lara declared war on the drug cartels. When Pablo Escobar "moved up" to the Colombian House of Representatives , Lara uncovered its links to the drug trade. Attempts to discredit Lara failed. Escobar lost his parliamentary seat and his US visa was revoked. Justice Minister Lara persecuted Escobar and other drug kings like Carlos Lehder and had hundreds of aircraft and facilities confiscated that were allegedly used for the production and distribution of illegal substances.

assassination

After only eight months in office, Lara, father of two sons, was gunned down in his white Mercedes on the evening of April 30, 1984 . Ivan Dario Guisado carried out the murder on behalf of Escobar; he rode a Yamaha DT 175, driven by Byron Velazquez, called Quesito . Gunman Guisado was killed by the minister's bodyguards, driver Velasquez was caught by police and spent more than ten years in prison. The scene of the crime, 127th Street in Bogotá, has been renamed Avenida Rodrigo Lara Bonilla .

consequences

After Lara's death, the Betancur government immediately passed the previously controversial extradition law and began a fight against organized crime.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ El Asesinato de Rodrigo Lara Bonilla . In: Revista Semana . August 7, 1987, ISSN  0124-5473 ( El Asesinato de Rodrigo Lara Bonilla ( Memento of December 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive )).
  2. ^ A b Associated Press : Justice Minister Slain in Bogota . In: The New York Times , May 1, 1984. Retrieved September 6, 2015. 
  3. ^ The War on Drugs: An International Encyclopedia. By Ron Chepesiuk
personal data
SURNAME Lara Bonilla, Rodrigo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Colombian lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Neiva
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1984
Place of death Bogotá