Jaime Ramírez (police officer)

Jaime Ramírez Gómez (4 July 1940 – 17 November 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 Rodrigo Lara Bonilla against the Medellín Cartel. The biggest blow against the cartel was dealt by Colonel Ramírez (later Brigadier General) on 7 March 1984, in an operation involving the DEA to locate and destroy a large cocaine production camp in the jungle of the Yari River (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 30 April 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 10 August 1992, almost six years after the murder of Ramírez, the President of Colombia decreed that he should receive a posthumous promotion to Brigadier General, a position that was due to be given to him one month after his murder.