Rodrigo Lara Bonilla (11 August 1946 – 30 April 1984) was a Colombian lawyer and politician who, in August 1983, became Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur. Unlike many before him, Lara aggressively targeted drug lords, particularly Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel, denouncing Escobar in Congress, getting him expelled, seizing 250 of his planes, and exposing major cocaine labs like Tranquilandia. On 30 April 1984, Lara was assassinated in Bogotá when motorcycle gunmen fired a Mac-10 through his car window, killing him instantly. The murder was ordered by Escobar, who fled to Panama, but it proved to be a turning point: Lara's death led to Escobar's formal indictment for murder and immediately prompted the Betancur government to approve extradition, sealing Escobar's eventual downfall. Lara, who had refused an armored car despite constant death threats, remains a martyr in Colombia's war on drugs.