Roberto Suárez Goméz

Roberto Suárez Goméz
Born 1932
Trinidad, Bolivia
Died July 20, 2000
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Alias(es) King of cocaine
Conviction(s) Drug trafficking and smuggling

Roberto Suárez Goméz, nicknamed "king of cocaine" (1932 – July 20, 2000) was a Bolivian drug trafficker who played a major role in the expansion of cocaine trafficking in Bolivia.

In the mid-1970s he began to conduct business with the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and after that he started to recruit Bolivian coca producers into his company "La Corporación" (the Corporation).[1][2]

In a letter to Ronald Reagan in 1983 he offered to pay Bolivia's foreign debt of more than $3 billion if he and his son got amnesty.[2][3]

In 1988 he was sentenced to 15 years in the San Pedro prison for drug crimes but he was released in 1996. Four years later he died of a heart attack.[2][3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Suárez Goméz, Roberto". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/713761/Roberto-Suarez-Gomez. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
  2. ^ a b c Lutteman, Markus (2007) (in Swedish). El Choco : svensken i Bolivias mest ökända fängelse. Norstedts. pp. 118–120. ISBN 978-91-7263-878-5. 
  3. ^ a b "Roberto Suarez Gomez; Bolivian Drug Trafficker". Los Angeles Times. July 24, 2000. http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jul/24/local/me-58236. Retrieved 2008-12-29.