| “ | Now your face has the same look of fear as your mother's did. This time, you will burn! | „ |
| ~ General Medrano's last words before attempting to rape and kill Camille. |
General Luiz Medrano is the secondary antagonist of the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace. He is an exiled Bolivian general who plotted to overthrow the current Bolivian government and conspired with Dominic Greene and the terrorist organization Quantum to ensure that he would succeed.
He was portrayed by Joaquín Cosío, who also played Scorpion in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Biography
Medrano made a deal with Quantum to overthrow the current Bolivian government, and in return, Greene (through his company Greene Planet) will be given ownership of a seemingly barren piece of Bolivian land for its vast resources. Following Mr. White's escape from MI6 custody, Medrano is first seen at Greene's port when he is introduced to Camille Montes, who is secretly working for Bolivian intelligence. It was later revealed that Medrano previously murdered Camille's family when she was young; he murdered her father and raped her mother and sister before burning their house down with Camille inside, though she managed to escape.
As of the plot, Medrano arranged for Colonel Carlos to murder his contact Rene Mathis and frame Bond for it so that the Bolivian authorities will catch on to him. In the climax, Medrano attempts to finalize his deal with Quantum at the Eco Hotel in Bolivia's Atacama Desert for his coup. After signing the paperwork given by Elvis, Medrano was presented with a new contract that will allow Quantum to use Bolivia's sole water utility company to sell at higher rates. Medrano initially refuses to sign this new contract, but Greene silently threatens to have him replaced if he does not comply, daring Medrano to have his right-hand man named Lieutenant Orso shoot him if he wishes to. Unwilling to take his chances in resisting against Greene's orders, Medrano reluctantly signs the contract and receives his share of the money as promised.
Despite getting his share as promised, Medrano is frustrated by this turn of events, so he tries to vent off his rage by attempting to rape his maid in his suite. However, Bond and Camille led a full assault in the hotel, killing all of Greene's thugs and Medrano's men in the process. As Bond fights against Greene, Camille kills Orso before making her way to Medrano' suite, where she frees the maid and lets her escape. However, Medrano attacks Camille, gloating of the time when he raped and killed her mother. Medrano then tries to rape Camille, but she fights back and grabs her gun, aiming at the general. Swearing that she will burn, Medrano (with an evil smile) foolishly charges at Camille in an attempt to kill her, but the latter forcibly shoots the hated general in the head, killing him and avenging her family's demise. Camille would later escape from the burning hotel with Bond, leaving Medrano's corpse to be buried in the rubble.
Bond later learned that Quantum is nothing more than a front run by Ernst Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE, and that both Greene and Medrano were nothing but pawns as part of Blofeld's true plot of wreaking psychological pain on Bond, as Blofeld ordered the execution on Greene for spilling the secrets of Quantum to Bond.
Trivia
- He is one of the two villains in the reboot series who are Pure Evil alongside Blofeld, the very same man who is responsible for assigning Greene in his plot and executing him for his failure.
