Murder of Danilo Anderson

Who is Murder of Danilo Anderson?

The Murder of Danilo Anderson took place on 18 November 2004, in Caracas, Venezuela. Danilo Baltasar Anderson was a Venezuelan environmental state prosecutor investigating more than 400 people accused of crimes against the state and Venezuelan people in the failed 2002 coup d'état attempt. Anderson, 38, was assassinated in Urbanización Los Chaguaramos in Caracas, while driving home from the college where he was taking postgraduate classes. He was killed when a C-4 plastic explosive device placed on the frame under the driver's seat on his Toyota SUV was detonated, apparently by remote control. Witnesses say they heard two loud explosions and saw the vehicle, already in flames, crash against the front of a nearby building. In 2005 several people were convicted of masterminding the assassination.

Anderson was born in Caracas, and graduated in law from Central University of Venezuela in 1995, specializing later in criminology and environmental law. He worked as a lawyer for several firms, and was a general tax inspector between 1993 and 2000. He was the first official to bring a case for environmental offenses in Caracas. According to El Nacional, Anderson described himself as a radical leftist. His murder shocked Venezuelan opinion across the political spectrum.