Juan Roa Sierra (4 November 1921-9 April 1948) was a Colombian stonemason who, on 9 April 1948, assassinated left-wing politician Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in Bogota, resulting in his own lynching and the ensuing Bogotazo riots.
Biography[]
Juan Roa Sierra was born in Egipto, Bogota, Colombia in 1921, the youngest of 14 siblings. He worked as a stonemason, among other jobs, and, like his siblings, he suffered from schizophrenia and grew convinced that he was a reincarnation of Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada and Francisco de Paula Santander. He supported Jorge Eliecer Gaitan during the 1946 elections, becoming obsessed with Gaitan and stalking him, even getting a painting job at the house next to Gaitan's residence. However, he was pressured into killing Gaitan by mysterious anti-communist men in a black car. He visited Gaitan's office at 9:30 AM on 9 April 1948 and shot him as he left the building at 1 PM. Roa fled to a nearby drugstore, and an angry mob assaulted the building before kicking and stabbing Roa until his body was left mutilated and dumped in front of the Casa de Nariño.