A former Colombian spy chief has been charged with the assassination of a Colombian presidential candidate 25 years ago, closing a case that has bewildered Colombians for decades.

On Aug. 18, 1989, liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan made his way on stage at a political rally in the Bogota suburb of Soacha, according to the Huffington Post U.K., when he was killed.

A fervent opponent of the cartels, which ran amok Colombia and killed hundreds during the 1980s, Galan favored renewing extradition treaties with the United States. These would open the possibility of trying drug lords in U.S. courts rather than Colombian ones.

Galan was assassinated along with his bodyguard and a local town councilor. For decades, no one knew for sure who ordered Galan's killing, considered by some to be Colombia's JFK, until now.

The Latin American Herald Tribune reported that the former director of Colombia's intelligence agency has been charged with orchestrating presidential candidate's assassination. The Colombian Attorney General has accused retired General Miguel Maza Marquez of being "the alleged co-author of the crimes of criminal conspiracy and homicide in relation to the killing of Galan."

Maza Marquez has also been charged with the same crimes in relation to the killings of bodyguard Santiago Cuervo Jimenez and town councilor, Julio Cesar Peñaloza, who accompanied Galan.

Maza, at the time, was director of the Security Administrative Department (DAS) and has been accused of weakening Galan's escort during this rally, according to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

The attorney general's office alleges that to weaken Galan's escort "the incompetent and irresponsible Jacobo Torregrosa Melo was put in charge, a man without prior experience as security chief or in escort duty." The attorney general adds that an informant warned Maza about an impending attack against Galan but he gave no response.

El Tiempo reports Maza attempted to derail the investigation after Galan's assassination by tainting the name of another DAS operative. However, he denies the allegations, claiming that he was not in charge of protective duties and that drug lords and paramilitaries targeted him.