Rodolfo Illanes (18 August 1958-26 August 2016) was the Deputy Interior Minister of Bolivia under President Evo Morales. He was murdered during the August 2016 Bolivian miners' strike.
Biography[]
Rodolfo Illanes was born La Paz, Bolivia in 1958, and he became the Deputy Minister of the Interior under Minister Carlos Romero. In August 2016, he headed to put down a protest by miners on the Panduro highway to the south of the capital of La Paz, accompanied by a bodyguard. The two men were seized by the strikers, who had been blocking the highway, and they attempted to use Illanes as a hostage in exchange for the government considering their terms. The two men were beaten to death after police shot two miners dead, and 100 people were arrested because of Illanes and his bodyguard's murders. President Evo Morales said that he had been profoundly affected by the murder.