Gustavo de Jesús Gaviria Rivero (December 25, 1946 – August 11, 1990) was a Colombian drug trafficker. As Pablo Escobar’s cousin and right-hand man, Gaviria controlled the Medellín Cartel’s finances and trade routes. He and Escobar had worked together in their criminal careers since the early 1970s.
Although he owned a fortune comparable to Escobar’s and even had a military apparatus at his service, Gaviria was not well known because he kept a low profile.
The events leading to his death are unclear. There is speculation that he was murdered by Search Bloc and that the incident was covered up to avoid retaliation.
Gustavo’s death deeply affected Escobar, given their deep personal and professional relationship. Nevertheless, Escobar did not attend his cousin’s funeral, but instead listened to the funeral Mass via a radio that his assistant had connected to the officiating priest.
After Gustavo’s death, Escobar decided to turn himself in, but to remain in La Catedral, a prison of his own making, guarded by his own guards. Because Gustavo died four days after President César Gaviria took office, the media and the country at large believed that the president had begun his term with an offensive against the narcoterrorists. Gustavo’s death triggered a counteroffensive by Escobar that initially destabilized the new president’s government.