Ramón Mercader

Ramón Mercader
Mercader in the 1970s
Born
Jaume Ramón Mercader del Río

(1913-02-07)7 February 1913
Died18 October 1978(1978-10-18) (aged 65)
Havana, Cuba
Resting placeKuntsevo Cemetery, Moscow, Russia
Other names
  • Jacques Mornard
  • Frank Jacson
  • Ramón Ivánovich López
  • Leon Jacome
  • Leon Haikys (not to be confused with Leon Gaikis)
Occupations
  • Waiter
  • militiaman
  • soldier
  • secret agent of the NKVD
Criminal statusDeceased
SpouseRoquelia Mendoza Buenabad
Children3
Parents
RelativesMaría Mercader (cousin)
ConvictionMurder
Criminal penalty20 years imprisonment

Jaume Ramón Mercader del Río (Catalan pronunciation: [rəˈmom məɾkəˈðe]; 7 February 1913 – 18 October 1978) was a Spanish communist and NKVD secret agent who assassinated the revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in August 1940 with an ice axe, for which Mercader was imprisoned for 19 years and 8 months.

In 1960, after release from Mexican imprisonment, Mercader was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal and the Order of Lenin medal, and lived at different times in Cuba, the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia.