Dr. Alejandro Jimenez de la Vega

Personal Information

Born: April 23, 1904

Place: Baranquilla, Colombia

Died: February 7, 1958

Profession: M. D., political activist

Born in a palenque in northern Colombia, Alejandro Jimenez de la Vega was the grandson of 'cimarrones', African slaves who had escaped from their oppressors and resettled along the northern coast of Colombia. Educated, outspoken and a fearless advocate of civil rights, he became one of the first Colombians of African descent to score the highest mark on the country's national baccalaureate exam. His status as a gifted doctor brought recognition if not equality and credibility among both African and Spaniard Colombians, prompting him to lobby with many others for the creation of the predominantly Black El Choco state in 1945. His encounter with Isabella Murillo, a young university student of Spaniard descent set the beginning of a highly-contested relationship that would nevertheless end in a discreet marriage.

A pro-US activist who considered the militarization of El Choco and Colombia by communist factions a major set back for his community, he was recruited as an informant by the Central Intelligence Agency in the mid-fifties. He thus fed the Agency crucial information on local factions until he was outed by a political opponent.

He was killed by communist rebels during his extraction by C. I. A. agents and what remained of his immediate family, his wife Isabella and daughter Gabriela resettled in the United States after his death.