
Waldemar Franklin Quintero (26 January 1941-18 August 1989) was the commander of the Colombian National Police in Antioquia in 1989, succeeding Gregorio Sepulveda.
Biography[]
Waldemar Franklin Quintero was born in Bucaramanga, Santander department, Colombia in 1941. He graduated from cadet school in 1963 and served as commander of the Caldas Police Department from 1983 to 1984, that of Boyaca from 1985 to 1987, and that of Antioquia in 1989. He stood out for his fight against both drug trafficking and guerrillas, and he sercured the release of several kidnapped people in Caldas and resolved a war between emerald miners in Caldas. In January 1989, he was sent to Antioquia to apprehend Medellin Cartel bosses Pablo Escobar and Jose Rodriguez Gacha. Over the course of seven months, he captured Fredy Rodriguez Celades, Alonso de Jesus Baquero, and Fabio Ochoa Restrepo.

Franklin Quintero's body
On 4 July 1989, the cartel accidentally killed Antioquia governor Antonio Roldan Betancourt in a bombing meant to kill Quintero. Quintero renounced any type of protection after that attack, not wishing to leave more widows and orphans. The cartel also planned to use a rocket launcher to kill Quintero, but their sicarios were discovered after a civilian called the police, mistaking the hitmen for potheads. Escobar threatened his military chief John Jairo Arias Tascón with replacement should he continue to fail in his attempts to kill Quintero, and he forced Quintero's driver to lure his boss into a trap, lest his family be killed. On 18 August 1989, Quintero's driver abandoned their car on a road in Medellin, and Escobar's sicarios approached the car and riddled Quintero with bullets. On that same day, presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan was assassinated.