VICTIMS OF NARCO-VIOLENCE ( a work in progress)
The Medellin Cartel’s victim’s and their families exist more as statistics than real people. In reality they are very real. Here are some of them.
Magistrate Gustavo Zuluaga Serna was assassinated by sicarios on September 23, 1983, while driving with his pregnant wife, Carmelita Valencia de Zuluaga in Medellin. Miraculously she survived. In September 1983 he served as the Tenth Superior Judge of Medellin, and signed the first arrest warrant against Pablo Escobar and his cousin Gustavo Gaviria. He left behind his wife and four children.
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was a Colombian lawyer and politician. He served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur. On the night of April 30, 1984, while being driving in Bogota, he was assassinated by a team of sicarios on motorcycles. His death, ordered by Pablo Escobar, because of his work as Minister in prosecuting cocaine traffickers mainly belonging to the Medellín Cartel.
Judge María Helena Díaz Perez. She murdered months after she charged Medellin Cartel capo’s Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha with the massacre of 66 peasant farmers in April 1988. She was 38 years old. She left behind her family who loved her dearly.
Guillermo Cano Isaza was assassinated on December 17, 1986, at the entrance to the office of El Espectador, the newspaper founded by his father. He had served as the editor since the age of 27. Cano was a victim of drug trafficking mafias, whom he fearlessly denounced and about whose harmful effects on Colombian society he cautioned.The newspaper's building was destroyed in a bomb attack three years later. by the Cartel. Popeye was later charged with helping to plan the attack on El Espectador.
Magistrate Carlos Ernesto Valencia García of the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Bogotá. On August 16, 1989, he, was assassinated while driving home with his bodyguards. He strongly believed that justice must be transparent, vertical and incorruptible. He approved the request for a trial against Pablo Escobar and his hitmen for the murder of the El Espectador Newspaper publisher, Guillermo Cano. Shortly after, he was murdered by sicarios from the Medellin Cartel. He left behind a wife and daughter.
Col. Valdemar Franklin Quintero, Commander, Colombian National Police force in Antioquia. Murdered on August 18, 1989 by sicarios working for the #Medellin Cartel. The 48 year old colonel left behind a wife and son. Franklin Quintero’s death was an epic blow to Colombian law enforcement as well as the country,. However it was mostly overshadowed by the assassination of Colombian politician, Luis Carlos Galan, just hours later that very same day.
An article highlighting Valdemar Franklin Quintero’s fighting the narco traffickers.
Diana Turbay Quintero was a well known, and widely popular Colombian journalist. On August 30, 1990, she was tricked into believing she was going to interview a controversial guerrilla leader. The unidentified man who contacted her was actually a member of a well known Medellin criminal outfit, that was hired by Pablo Escobar. She was held in a rural area of Antioquia for roughly 3 months. On January 25, 1991, during a mishandled rescue operation launched by the Colombia National Police, she was killed. She left behind her husband and two young children.