Matos Gutierrez was a Bolivian journalist who is best-known for his work on uncovering the narcotics-linked corruption in the Bolivian government during the early 1980s.
Biography
Matos Gutierrez was born in Bolivia, and he was fluent in English and a very intelligent man. Gutierrez investigated links between narco-traffickers and the Bolivian government in the early 1980s, and in 1983 he revealed Minister of Defense General Cucombre's corruption as well as discussing the power of drug lord Alejandro Sosa. In response to the interview, many people across the world began to realize the threat that the drug trade posed, and 60 Minutes scheduled an interview with him in New York City. Sosa sent his associate Tony Montana to escort his hitman Alberto Ruiz to New York to kill Gutierrez with a car bomb in front of the United Nations building, but the plan went awry when Gutierrez picked up his wife and kids in his car. Montana refused to kill the wife and kids in the bombing, so he shot Alberto in the head before he could detonate the explosives. Gutierrez exposed Sosa on 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast internationally, bringing pressure against Sosa to an all-time high.