had been very vocal in denouncing the systematic assassination of members of UP, attributing them to the rise of right-wing paramilitary forces in allegiance with drug trafficking cartels, and approved and even supported by the military and other political forces. He specifically blamed president Barco of ignoring the evidence of the collaboration between drug cartels and Colombia's military to create and fund the paramilitary forces responsible for the assassinations. Two days before his assassination, Carlos Lemos, who was the Minister of Government at the time, dismissed Jaramillo's accusations and in turn suggested that UP was the political branch of FARC. Jaramillo responded by saying that such accusation was both unfair and baseless, and that it meant essentially a death sentence for him and UP members, which proved true just two days later. Jaramillo was murdered while campaigning in Bogotá on March 22, 1990. He was in Bogotá's Puente Aéreo terminal of El Dorado airport with his wife Mariela Barragan and several bodyguards provided to him by DAS. Despite having received death threats, he refused to wear a protective vest. Once he was in the terminal, he was waiting for his flight to Santa Marta, where he would go on vacation after the exhausting presidential campaign. A young paramilitary hitman, named Andrés Arturo Gutiérrez Maya, waited for him while he and his wife were in front of a pharmacy, then pulled out a Mini Ingram 380 machine gun and fired on the candidate. A guard pushed the wife away to prevent her being shot as well, while other bodyguards chased after the murderer, whom they shot and captured. Jaramillo fell wounded in the arms of his wife and uttered three sentences: "Mi amor, no siento las piernas. Estos hijueputas me dieron, me voy a morir. Abrazame y protegeme. [My love, I can't feel my legs. These motherfuckers got me, I am going to die. Hug me and protect me.]" He was put in a car by his wife and few other bodyguards, where he lost consciousness, and then taken to the hospital of the National Police. He died before he reached the operating theatre, after a delay in the elevator at the clinic. After his assassination more than 3,000 members in or related to his party were also killed. Investigations Since his murderer, Gutiérrez Maya, was 16 at the time of the assassination, he didn't go to jail, but to a