Jaime Ramírez Gómez (July 4, 1940 – November 17, 1986) was an official of the
National Police of Colombia
The National Police of Colombia (Spanish: ''Policía Nacional de Colombia'') is the national police force of the Republic of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military Forces of Colombia (Army, Navy, and Air Force), it ...
, who led a fight against the
illegal drug trade in Colombia from the 1970s onwards.
He became the national director of the Colombian drug enforcement unit, working with the Minister of Justice
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla ( es, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla; August 11, 1946 – April 30, 1984) was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur, and was assassinated by orders of Pablo Escobar bec ...
against the
Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered ...
. The biggest blow against the cartel was dealt by Colonel Ramírez (later Brigadier General) on March 7, 1984, in an operation involving the
DEA
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...
to locate and destroy a large cocaine production camp in the jungle of the
Yari River
is the term for a traditionally-made Japanese blade (日本刀; nihontō) in the form of a spear, or more specifically, the straight-headed spear. The martial art of wielding the is called .
History
The forerunner of the is thought to be a ...
(between the departments of
Caqueta and
Meta) known by the cartel as "Tranquilandia" (the "Tranquil Land"). It triggered direct hostilities by the cartel against the Colombian state, commencing with the murders of Minister Lara Bonilla on April 30, 1984, and Colonel Jaime Ramírez Gómez two years later.
The importance of Ramírez's fight against the drug traffickers has been highlighted years after his murder, due to the damage caused by drug cartels to both Colombian and international communities. On August 10, 1992, almost six years after the murder of Ramírez, the President of Colombia decreed that he should receive a posthumous promotion to
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
, a position that was due to be given to him one month after his murder.
Carvalho and the Queen of Cocaine
Colonel Ramírez's fight started in the 1970s when he led the dismantling of a gang of counterfeiters and drug traffickers in Bogotá, who were led by a Brazilian man known as Iván Darío Carvalho, alias "El Mocho", allegedly born in Medellín. The Police arrested him in April 1975 and found cocaine valued at 150 million Colombian pesos along with equipment for the counterfeiting of passports and visas at his residence. This operation led to a police incursion into a property of El Mocho in the municipality of
Tena, Cundinamarca
Tena is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Tequendama Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. The urban centre is located at an altitude of at a distance of from the capital Bogotá. The municipality borders Bojaca in the n ...
, where they found connections with Verónica Rivera de Vargas, alias the Queen of Cocaina.
Chief of the Colombian Drug Enforcement Unit
Colonel Ramírez's successes against drug cartels brought him to the position of Director of the Colombian Drug Enforcement Unit at the same moment that the political leader
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla ( es, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla; August 11, 1946 – April 30, 1984) was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur, and was assassinated by orders of Pablo Escobar bec ...
, a bitter enemy of drug cartels and corruption, was promoted to the position of Minister of Justice by the Presidency of
Belisario Betancourt Cuartas (1982–1986). Ramírez and Lara assembled a team to search for connections with drug traffickers and enlisted thirty people, many of them participating in politics,
and discovered that the cartels were using several aircraft and legal airports to export illegal drugs to United States and Europe. With that information, Minister Lara ordered the suspension of any flight that was seen as suspicious, dealing a heavy blow to the cartels' operations, as well as denouncing dirty money in different political parties and even in sport teams.
The enforcement actions of Minister Lara against ringleaders such as
Pablo Escobar Gaviria
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in ...
,
Carlos Lehder
Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas (born 7 September 1949) is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. He was released from prison in the United States after 33 years in 2020. Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder ...
,
Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha
Gonzalo may refer to:
* Gonzalo (name)
* Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town
* Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy
* Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014
See also
* Gonzalez (disambiguation)
* Gonzales (disambiguation)
* ...
, the Ochoa brothers (
Fabio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin '' Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian.
The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...
,
Jorge
Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".
The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...
and
Juan David Ochoa
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
), all known as the
Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered ...
, made him a target for assassination. Security protection for Minister Lara was strict under Colonel Ramírez and the DEA, who frustrated a first attempt at murder in Medellín which led to the arrest of American Joseph Harold Rosenthal, alias Edward John Burn, involved in money laundering associated to narcotics.
[
The next big blow to the Medellín Cartel and probably the biggest one, was also led by Colonel Ramírez and the DEA, with the agreement of Minister Lara. It was the destruction of a huge camp for the production of cocaine hidden in the jungles of the Yarí River, between the departments of Caquetá and Meta. The place was named "Tranquilandia" (Tranquil Land) by the cartel. The Police seized 1,500 kilograms of cocaine (13.8 tons) and arrested 40 people in what was called the "Yarí '84" Operation on March 7, 1984. The camp had nine cocaine laboratories, eight landing strips, health centers, communications and basic services such as water and electricity.
With the destruction of Tranquilandia, the cartel declared war on the Colombian State, starting with the murder of Minister Lara on April 30, 1984, seven weeks after the seizure of the cocaine production camp.
]
Death
The death of Minister Lara brought terrible consequences for both Colombia and for the cartel leaders who as a result became a target of international persecution. Colombia was deeply divided between those who accepted the drug cartel's corruption and those who joined to fight against it, many times without the support of the State. Although the Medellín Cartel was damaged, it was powerful and began a chain of murders against political leaders, judges, police, journalists and anyone who dared to stand against it.
Colonel Ramírez's name was put in the hit list of the cartel and it did not rest until it was able to break through his security to avenge the damage he did to its criminal network. On November 17, 1986, When he was returning to Bogotá with his family in a white Toyota Land Cruiser, two hitmen driving a green Renault 18 (since it was a Sunday only one vehicle of bodyguards was beside them the hitmen), and used a RPG-7
The RPG-7 (russian: link=no, РПГ-7, Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot) is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Th ...
to subdue the bodyguards. They then wounded him and he subsequently crashed into a rock near a police station. Colonel Ramírez walked out of his SUV and the assailants repeatedly shot him with an automatic weapon. Colonel Ramírez was killed almost instantly. His family remained unharmed. One month later, on the same day, chief editor of El Espectador Guillermo Cano Isaza was also assassinated.
The assassination of Colonel Ramírez was just one act in a macabre war by the Medellín Cartel against the Colombian State in its attempt to outsmart it. But it was also a milestone which resulted in the fight against the cartel being quickly strengthened with the international support of the DEA in order to hunt down the main ringleaders. On August 18, 1989, a successor of Ramírez, Colonel Waldemar Franklin Quintero
Colonel Valdemar Franklin Quintero (January 26, 1941 – August 18, 1989) was the commander of the Colombian National Police in ''Antioquia Province''. Franklin had led several major raids which resulted in the seizure of multiple tons of cocaine. ...
, was also murdered by the same cartel, but four months later, on December 15, 1989, justice received its first meaningful victory in that war with the death of Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha
Gonzalo may refer to:
* Gonzalo (name)
* Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town
* Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy
* Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014
See also
* Gonzalez (disambiguation)
* Gonzales (disambiguation)
* ...
, alias The Mexican. The next success was when Pablo Escobar Gaviria
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in ...
, alias El Patrón, surrendered himself to the authorities in 1991, however he made sure that the Colombian government would agree to a non-extradition regulation so that he could not be extradited to the United States. Afterwards, he escaped and tried to create his own war against the State, but he was shot down by the Police Special Force on December 2, 1993.
Legacy
Although Colonel Ramírez was not properly recognized while alive for facing almost alone the power of the drug cartels, his importance has been acknowledged years after his death, thanks to historical accounts from different sources, including his own former enemies such as John Jairo Velásquez, alias Popeye, lieutenant of Pablo Escobar, who published a book, "Surviving Pablo Escobar" (2015), where he described the crimes of the Medellín Cartel.
Honorable mentions
Colonel Ramírez was murdered one month before what would have been his promotion to brigadier general. After his death, the Direction of the Colombian Police suspended a posthumous promotion allegedly because "he died outside a police operation". After a legal battle of seven years, the presidency of César Gaviria Trujillo ordered his posthumous promotion to brigadier general.
Representations in Television
* In the series of Caracol Television
Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District, of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Platea ...
, ''Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord
''Escobar: El Patrón del Mal'' (international title: ''Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord''; also known as ''Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal'') is a 2012 Colombian telenovela produced and broadcast on Caracol TV, based on a true story about the life ...
'' (2012) by Carlos Moreno, portraying the life of the drug lord, Colonel Ramírez is called "Colonel Jairo Jiménez" by actor Julio Pachón.
* In the series of Fox Telecolombia, '' Alias El Mexicano'' (2013) by Diego Mejía and Monica Botero, Colonel Ramírez keeps his same real name and he is performed by actor Rafael Novoa. In this series, Colonel Ramírez is one of the protagonists at the side of Minister Lara and some fictional characters who represent the fight of many people that faced the drug traffickers despite the fear of losing their lives.
* In the web television series, '' Narcos'' (2015) by Chris Brancato
Chris Brancato (born July 24, 1962) is an American television and film writer and producer. Brancato grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey , Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro
Doug Miro (born January 20, 1972) is an American screenwriter based in Los Angeles. Miro studied screenwriting at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and graduated with a degree in English from Stanford University.
Life and career
Miro's screenpla ...
, a fictional character named Horacio Carrillo is based on Colonel Ramírez. He is portrayed by Maurice Compte
Maurice Compte (; born in 1969) is an American actor known for his roles as Gaff in ''Breaking Bad'', Santiago "Big Evil" Flores in '' End of Watch'', and as Colonel Carrillo in ''Narcos''.
Early life
Born and raised in New Orleans, Compte is ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez Gomez, Jaime
1940 births
1986 deaths
Chiefs of police
Colombian police officers
Crimes against police officers in Colombia
Police officers killed in the line of duty
People murdered by Colombian organized crime
Colombian colonels