Jaime Ramírez (police officer)

Jaime Ramírez Gómez (July 4, 1940 – November 17, 1986) was an official of the National Police of Colombia, 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

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, where they found connections with Verónica Rivera de Vargas, alias the Queen of Cocaina.^[1]

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

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.[3]

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.

Assassination of Colonel Ramírez

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 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

• In the series of
  Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord
  (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, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro, a fictional character named Horacio Carrillo is based on Colonel Ramírez. He is portrayed by Maurice Compte.

References