Rodolfo J. Illanes Alvarado (18 August 1958 – 25 August 2016) was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs from 14 March 2016 to 25 August 2016, during the third cabinet of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to co ...

Biography

Rodolfo Illanes was born in the city of

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

in 1958. He was a lawyer at the

Higher University of San Andrés Higher University of San Andrés (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés or UMSA or Major University of San Andrés) is the leading public university in Bolivia, established since 1830 in the city of La Paz. UMSA is the second-oldest university in Boli ...

(UMSA). He had also had a specialty in Criminal Sciences, from the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...

. He was an adviser to President Evo Morales in his first term. In the Ministry of Labour he held the position of Superintendent of Civil Service and then Deputy Minister of Work, Employment, and Social Security. On 14 March 2016, he assumed the position of Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, replacing Marcelo Elío Chávez.

Kidnapping and death

On 25 August 2016, Illanes was kidnapped along with his assistant while heading to Panduro to speak to anti-government protesters and then was later killed by the striking

miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

who abducted him. His murder shocked the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n country. Defence Minister Reymi Ferreira broke down on television as he described how Illanes, appointed to his post in March, had apparently been "beaten and tortured to death". Government minister Carlos Romero called it a "cowardly and brutal killing" and asked the miners to immediately hand over the body.

References

1960 births 2016 deaths People from La Paz Bolivian murder victims People murdered in Bolivia Deaths by beating Movement for Socialism (Bolivia) politicians Higher University of San Andrés alumni University of Costa Rica alumni 20th-century Bolivian lawyers 21st-century Bolivian politicians 21st-century Bolivian lawyers 2016 murders in Bolivia {{Bolivia-politician-stub