Pablo Escobar

This article is about the Colombian drug lord. For other uses, see Pablo Escobar (disambiguation).

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Escobar and the second or maternal family name is Gaviria.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (/ˈɛskəbɑːr/; Spanish: [ˈpaβlo eskoˈβaɾ]; 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and politician who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar was one of the wealthiest criminals in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death—equivalent to $70 billion as of 2022—while his drug cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Pablo Escobar
Escobar in a 1976 mugshot
Born	Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (1949-12-01)1 December 1949 Rionegro, Colombia
Died	2 December 1993(1993-12-02) (aged 44) Medellín, Colombia
Cause of death	Gunshot wound to the head
Resting place	Monte Sacro Cemetery
Spouse	Maria Victoria Henao ​ ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	Sebastián Marroquín Manuela
Parent(s)	Abel de Jesús Escobar Echeverri Hermilda de los Dolores Gaviria Berrío
Relatives	José Obdulio Gaviria Gustavo Gaviria
Criminal charge	Drug trafficking, money laundering, murder, terrorism, bribery, smuggling, extortion, political corruption.
Other names	El Patrón (The Boss) Don Pablo (Sir Pablo) El Padrino (The Godfather) El Diablo (The Devil) Paisa Robin Hood
Organization	Medellín cartel
Conviction(s)	Illegal drug trade, assassinations, bombing, bribery, racketeering, murder
Criminal penalty	Five years' imprisonment
Signature

Born in Rionegro into a peasant family and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft. In the early 1970s, he began to work for various smugglers.

In 1976, forming alliances with Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, Carlos Lehder, and Jorge Luis Ochoa and his clan, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine. He also established the first smuggling routes from Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador through Colombia and into the United States. Escobar's infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine, and by the 1980s, it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia, controlling more than 80% of the world's production of the drug and 60% of the illicit market in the United States. As a result, Escobar amassed an immense fortune, which amounted to around eight billion dollars between assets and cash; according to Forbes, for seven consecutive years, he was one of the richest people in the world.

In the 1982 Colombian parliamentary election, to excuse his immeasurable capital, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Party. Through this, he was responsible for community projects such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented; however, Escobar's political ambitions were thwarted by the Colombian and U.S. governments, constantly battled rival cartels domestically and abroad, leading to massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians. who routinely pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the Avianca Flight 203 and DAS Building bombings in retaliation.

In 1989, after several attempts at negotiation, multiple kidnappings, and selective assassinations of judges and public officials, the Medellín Cartel with Escobar at its helm declared total war against the government. Escobar organized and financed an extensive army of hitmen, who assassinated key figures for the Colombian institutionality, such as the liberal leader Luis Carlos Galán, and perpetrated indiscriminate terrorist acts, such as the use of car bombs in Columbia’s main cities. This campaign of narcoterrorism destabilized the country and made Escobar the most wanted criminal in the world at the beginning of the nineties. Escobar was responsible for the murder of 657 police officers between 1989 and 1993, and fierce clashes against the Cali Cartel, the Magdalena Medio Antioquia paramilitary groups, and Los Pepes.

In 1991, after the consummation of the National Constituent Assembly, which gave Colombia a new constitution and the prohibition of the extradition of nationals, Escobar surrendered to authorities and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on multiple charges; however, he struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President César Gaviria, along with the ability to be housed in his self-built prison, La Catedral. In 1992, when authorities attempted to move Escobar to a more standard holding facility after confirming that he had continued to commit crimes while imprisoned, Escobar escaped and went into hiding, leading to a nationwide manhunt. As a result, the Medellín Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44th birthday.

Escobar's legacy remains controversial; while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, he was seen as a "Robin Hood-like" figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor. His killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people. Additionally, his private estate, Hacienda Nápoles, has been transformed into a theme park. His life has also served as inspiration for or has been dramatized widely in film, television, and in music.

Early life

The city of Medellín, where Escobar grew up and began his criminal career

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on 1 December 1949 in the small village of El Tablazo near Rionegro, Antioquia Department. He belonged to the Paisa ethnic subgroup. His family was of Spanish origin, specifically from the Basque Country, and also had Italian roots. He was the second of seven children and grew up in poverty. His father was a small farmer and his mother was a teacher, and his siblings in order of birth were Roberto de Jesus 'El Osito', Gloria Inés, Argemiro, Alba Marina, Luz María and Luis Fernando (the latter born in 1958 and murdered at the age of 19 in 1977).

Escobar's maternal grandfather, Roberto Gaviria Cobaleda, had already preceded him in illegal activities, as he was a renowned whiskey smuggler at a time when it was illegal (early 20th century). Gaviria Cobaleda was also the grandfather of the Colombian lawyer and politician José Obdulio Gaviria.

"Well, my family did not have significant financial resources and we lived through difficulties like those experienced by the majority of Colombian people, so we are not oblivious to these problems, we know them deeply and we understand them."

— Pablo Escobar

However, his ancestors and immediate family members stood out as politicians, businessmen, ranchers and figures of the Antioquian elite, therefore, his widely publicized "popular origins" would not correspond to reality. Among his extensive family members is Isabel Gaviria Duque, First Lady of the Nation, wife of Carlos E. Restrepo, who was President of Colombia between 1910 and 1914. Pablo Escobar's godfather was the renowned Colombian diplomat and intellectual Joaquín Vallejo Arbeláez. His death is kept in the parish of Rionegro, which reads:

In the parish of San Nicolás de Rionegro, on December 4, 1949, Father Juan M. Gómez baptized a child who was born on the first day of the present, whom he named PABLO EMILIO, legitimate son of Abel de Jesús Escobar and Hermilda Gaviria, residents of this parish. Paternal grandparents: Pablo Emilio Escobar and Sara María Echeverri. Maternal grandparents: Roberto Gaviria and Inés Berrío. Godparents: Joaquín Vallejo and Nelly Mejía de Vallejo, who were advised of their spiritual relationship and obligations. I attest. Agustín Gómez. Priest. MARGINAL NOTE OF CONFIRMATION. Confirmed in the Minor Basilica by His Excellency Mr. Alfonso Uribe Jaramillo, on October 21, 1952. Godfather: Gustavo Gaviria. I attest. Juan M. Gómez, Priest. MARGINAL NOTE OF MARRIAGE. He was married in Palmira, Valle, parish of La Stma. Trinidad, on March 29, 1976. Witnesses: Alfonso Hurtado and Dolores de Vallejo. He married Victoria E. Henao. I attest to this. Monsignor Samuel Álvarez Botero.

Childhood and youth

According to his mother, Escobar began to show insight and cunning as early as elementary school; and at the beginning of high school, another of his qualities became evident: his leadership over his classmates. Escobar and his cousin Gustavo Gaviria Rivero did small "businesses" at the Lucrecio Jaramillo Vélez high school, where they both studied. They held raffles, exchanged comics, sold exams and lent money at low interest. In this way, Pablo Escobar began to develop his "ability" for business and commerce.

Escobar left high school in 1966 just before his 17th birthday, before returning two years later with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria. At this time, the hard life on the streets of Medellín had polished them into gangster bullies in the eyes of teachers. The two dropped out of school after more than a year, but Escobar did not give up. Having forged a high school diploma, he was admitted to study at the Faculty of Economics of the Latin American Autonomous University of Medellin, where several of his Gaviria cousins were studying, including José Obdulio, with the goal of becoming a criminal lawyer, a politician, and eventually the president but had to give up because of lack of money. Escobar preferred to dedicate himself to his personal "businesses." As a curious fact, he always felt self-conscious about his short stature (1.65 m) and this made him wear special shoes with heels to make himself look taller.

Criminal career

See also: Illegal drug trade in Colombia, Illegal drug trade in Panama, and Illegal drug trade in the Bahamas

Early

Escobar started his criminal career with his gang by with small scams, thefts, and after stealing tombstones, sandblasting their inscriptions, and reselling them. After dropping out of college, Escobar began to join gangs to steal cars. Escobar soon became involved in violent crime, employing criminals to kidnap people who owed him money and demand ransoms, sometimes tearing up ransom notes even when Escobar had received the ransom. His most famous kidnapping victim was businessman Diego Echavarria Misas, who was kidnapped and eventually killed in the summer of 1971, Escobar received a $50,000 ransom from the Echavarria family; his gang became well known for this kidnapping. Escobar would repeat the same process with drug lord Fabio Restrepo, kidnapping and murdering him in 1975.

After Escobar would later begin to work for Alfredo Gómez López, 'Don Capone', the king of smuggling in Colombia. Escobar soon entered the drug trade by smuggling marijuana to the United States under the patronage of Griselda Blanco. After the end of the marijuana boom, Escobar began working as an intermediary who bought cocaine paste in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, to later resell it to his partners the Ochoa brothers, traffickers in charge of taking it to the United States.

Medellín Cartel

International drug routes

Escobar had been involved in organized crime for a decade when the cocaine trade began to spread in Colombia in the mid-1970s. Escobar's meteoric rise caught the attention of the Colombian Security Service (DAS), who arrested him in May 1976 on his return from drug trafficking in Ecuador. DAS agents found 39 kg of cocaine in the spare tire of Escobar's car. Escobar managed to change the first judge in the lawsuit and the process expired, apparently by bribed the second judge, so he was released along with other prisoners. Despite this, the case was reopened by Judge Mariela Espinosa, who also dropped the investigation due to threats against her life. The following year, the agents who arrested Escobar were assassinated. Escobar continued to bribe and intimidate Colombian law enforcement agencies in the same fashion. His carrot-and-stick strategy of bribing public officials and political candidates in Colombia, in addition to sending hitmen to murder the ones who rejected his bribes, came to be known as "silver or lead", meaning "money or death". The Medellín Cartel and the Cali Cartel both managed to bribe Colombian politicians, and campaigned for both the Conservative and Liberal parties. Although the difference between the two cartels was that the Medellín Cartel used its "money or death" law through a huge army of hitmen, the Cali Cartel preferred to use bribes by having politicians, journalists, police officers, army officers, judges, etc. on its payroll. Hence, Escobar and many other Colombian drug lords were pulling strings in every level of the Colombian government because many of the political candidates whom they backed financially were eventually elected. Although the Medellín Cartel was only established in the early 1970s, it expanded after Escobar met several drug lords on a farm in April 1978, and by the end of 1978 they had transported some 19,000 kilograms of cocaine to the United States.

The cocaine sent by the Medellín Cartel to the United States was packaged in blocks and entered hidden among parts of machinery, cars, submarines, boats and even in the tires of airplanes coming from Colombia. Up to 15 tons of this drug entered the northern country every day.

Rise to prominence

Powder cocaine was manufactured, packaged, and sold by Pablo Escobar and his associates, and eventually distributed to the U.S. drug market.

Soon, the demand for cocaine greatly increased in the United States, which led to Escobar organizing more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the country. He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, an island called Norman's Cay about 350 km (220 mi) southeast of the Florida coast. Escobar and Robert Vesco purchased most of the land on the island, which included a 1-kilometre (3,300 ft) airstrip, a harbor, a hotel, houses, boats, and aircraft, and they built a refrigerated warehouse to store the cocaine. According to his brother, Escobar did not purchase Norman's Cay; it was instead a sole venture of Lehder's. From 1978 to 1982, this was used as a central smuggling route for the Medellín Cartel. With the enormous profits generated by this route, Escobar was soon able to purchase 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) of land in Antioquia for several million dollars, on which he built the Hacienda Nápoles. The luxury house he created contained a zoo, with more than two hundred species of exotic animals for the region, such as hippos, giraffes, elephants, zebras and ostriches, all introduced into the country as a result of bribes to the government entity INDERENA and the customs authorities; a lake, a sculpture garden; a private bullring; and other amenities for his family and the cartel. Escobar made a show of this by producing a propaganda report about his Hacienda.

Escobar was also among the world's billionaires due to his immense fortune invested in buildings, homes, automobiles and estates. listed as the seventh richest man in the world, according to Forbes, something his son would deny years later.

Escobar's political career

At the height of his power, Escobar was involved in philanthropy in Colombia and paid handsomely for the staff of his cocaine lab. Escobar spent millions developing some of Medellín's poorest neighborhoods. He built housing complexes, parks, football stadiums, hospitals, schools, and churches. His most famous charity work was the 'Medellín without slums' neighbourhood, aimed at people living in slums at the Medellín municipal dump. Shortly before the presidential and regional elections of 1982 began, Escobar realized that he had to create a "cover" to protect his lucrative drug trade. He began to cultivate an image of a respectable man, making contacts with politicians, financiers, lawyers, etc. Considered until then a 'Robin Hood paisa' due to his help to the poor of Medellín, Escobar would enter politics with the help of Jairo Ortega Ramírez as a congressman representing Antioquia through the Liberal Renewal movement, although his godfather in politics was the liberal chieftain from Tolima Department Alberto Santofimio Botero. This triumvirate initially supported the candidacy of Luis Carlos Galán, a dissident of the Liberal Party for his New Liberalism movement. While campaigning politically in Medellín, Galán learned through his assistant Iván Marulanda that people whose fortunes were of dubious origin had joined the Liberal Renovation movement. In Medellín's Berrío Park, Galán, without mentioning Escobar's name, publicly expelled him, rejecting the support of Escobar and others similar to him involved in shady business dealings. Despite the opposition and warnings of his partners, in 1982, he successfully entered the Colombian Congress. Although only an alternate, he was automatically granted parliamentary immunity and the right to a diplomatic passport under Colombian law. At the same time, Escobar was gradually becoming a public figure, and because of his charitable work, he was known as "Robin Hood Paisa". He alleged once in an interview that his fortune came from a bicycle rental company he founded when he was 16 years old.

After of his election, Escobar was invited in 1982 to the inauguration of Felipe González, the third president of democratic Spain, by the Spanish businessman Enrique Sarasola, who had important business dealings in Medellín.

The Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara (center) and presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán (left) were both assassinated by orders of Escobar.

In Congress, in 1983, the new Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara-Bonilla, had become Escobar's opponent, accusing Escobar of criminal activity from the first day of Congress. Lara, who had since denounced the infiltration of illicit money into Colombian politics and soccer teams, accused him not only of being a drug trafficker but also of being the leader of the paramilitary group Death to Kidnappers (MAS), created in 1981 to violently stop the onslaught of the M-19 guerrilla movement that had kidnapped Martha Nieves Ochoa, sister of his associates. , and an attempted kidnapping of his partner Carlos Lehder who managed to escape wounded in the leg. Escobar secretly counterattacks alongside Jairo Ortega by showing a copy of a check from drug trafficker Evaristo Porras to Lara's Senate campaign, in addition to challenging the minister to show evidence against him under penalty of being sued for slander and defamation. Guillermo Cano, editor and owner of the newspaper El Espectador, seeing Escobar, sensed that he knew him from somewhere, so accompanied by María Jimena Duzán and another reporter, they went to the disorganized archive of the newspaper and found the headline in which it was reported that Escobar together his cousin Gustavo Gaviria had been arrested for possessing coca paste.

Tranquilandia was the main cocaine production center of the Medellín Cartel, located in the department of Caquetá. It had 19 processing laboratories, abundant fresh water (from the Yarí River), an independent electrical system, dormitories and a landing strip. The complex was destroyed in 1984 by the National Police and the DEA, seizing about 14 tons of drugs, valued at 1.2 billion dollars.

Escobar's arrest in 1976 was investigated by Lara-Bonilla's subordinates, this confirmed in a Brian Ross's September 5, 1983 report, on the U.S. television network NBC. A few months later, Escobar was publicly expelled from Congress and his visa to the United States was cancelled, while Judge Gustavo Zuluaga Serna issued an arrest warrant against Escobar for the murder of the two DAS agents who had captured him in 1976. At the same time, and with Lara's approval, the police, headed by Colonel Jaime Ramírez, together with the DEA discovered and dismantled Tranquilandia, a complex of several cocaine processing laboratories owned by Rodríguez Gacha. Although Escobar fought back, he announced his retirement from politics in January 1984. Three months later, Lara-Bonilla, whose honor had previously been called into question and then vindicated, was murdered.

War against drugs and narcoterrorism

Colombia will hand over criminals requested by the Crime Commission in other countries; so that they are punished in an exemplary manner, in this universal operation against an attack that is also universal.

— President Belisario Betancur

President Belisario Betancur, who had previously opposed the extradition of Colombians, decided to authorize it, triggering a series of police operations to capture members of the Medellín Cartel. The main leaders of the Cartel had to take refuge in Panama and tried, in May 1984, to talk with former President Alfonso López Michelsen, who was acting as an electoral observer in the elections in Panama, at the Hilton Hotel in Panama City in a last attempt to approach the government, denying their authorship of the murder of the minister but offering to surrender on condition of not extraditing them. Their failure was due to the fact that the talks had been leaked to the press. Months later, they returned clandestinely to Colombia.

In November 1984, Los Extraditables detonated a car bomb in front of the US embassy in Bogotá, killing one person. A year after the murder of Lara Bonilla, despite the government's announcements to combat them, the drug traffickers of the Medellín Cartel, now renamed Los Extraditables, remained unpunished, expanding their criminal apparatus across large areas of the country and opening new cocaine trafficking routes through Nicaragua and Cuba. All of this in collusion with some sectors of the public forces, bought off with money and terror. In the fall of 1985, the wanted Escobar requested the Colombian government to allow his conditional surrender without extradition to the United States. The proposal was initially rejected, The Los Extraditable Organization was subsequently accused of participating in an effort to prevent the Colombian Supreme Court from studying the constitutionality of Colombia's extradition treaty with the United States.

The Colombian judiciary had been a target of Escobar throughout the mid-1980s. While bribing and murdering several judges; beginning in June 1985, Los Extraditables ordered the death of Judge Tulio Manuel Castro Gil, in charge of investigating the Lara Bonilla murder. According to reports, Escobar, who was at war with the guerrillas after the MAS episode, approached the M-19 through negotiations with Iván Marino Ospina. According to some reports, it is believed that he was aware of the Palace of Justice siege due to the threats made by Los Extraditables to the magistrates of the courts and because he offered economic support for the operation, which was not accepted by the former M-19 militants, since the operation, according to them, had political objectives. The existence of copies of the files and the extradition requests in the foreign ministry, American courts and the American embassy disproves that the burning of files was the reason for the guerrilla operation. The operation was authorized by Álvaro Fayad and took place between November 6 and 7, 1985, resulting in 94 dead and the disappearance of 11 people during the retaking of the Palace by the Public Force.

The Cartel's campaign of assassinations against its enemies in the Government and those who supported the extradition treaty, made effective in January 1985 with the sending of the first captured to the United States by the newly appointed Minister of Justice Enrique Parejo González, replacing the murdered Lara, and all those who denounced their business and mafia networks. The Extraditables assassinated, in February 1986, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the pilot and witness before the American justice system Barry Seal; in July, the magistrate Hernando Baquero Borda, rapporteur of the Extradition Treaty in 1980, and the journalist of El Espectador Roberto Camacho Prada; and on August 18, already with the new president of Colombia Virgilio Barco Vargas, the captain of the anti-narcotics police Luis Alfredo Macana.

In September 1986, Los Extraditables ordered the murder of Diario Occidente journalist Raúl Echavarría Barrientos. In September 1986, motorized hitmen killed Judge Zuluaga Serna.

In October 1986, anti-narcotics police colonel Jaime Ramírez Gómez was killed after returning to Bogotá from a weekend trip with his family. On December 17, 1986, Guillermo Cano, editor of El Espectador newspaper, was killed. In January 1987, Escobar's hitmen attacked Parejo González, former Minister of Justice in Budapest and at the time Colombian ambassador to Hungary.

In late 1986, Colombia's Supreme Court declared the previous extradition treaty illegal due to being signed by a presidential delegation, not the president. Escobar's victory over the judiciary was short-lived. It is believed that Escobar was the one who betrayed Lehder, causing his capture on February 4, 1987. However, unexpectedly, Lehder was extradited to the United States.Escobar and the rest of the leadership, aware of the danger that extradition represented for their interests and determined to fight it, reinforced their military and economic apparatus and set about collecting considerable resources from all drug traffickers, even from those who were not part of their group, in order to finance the foreseeable escalation of violence.

War between drug cartels

Although both cartels maintained a cordial relationship, the origin of the war between the Medellin and Cali cartels has varied origins. One version suggests disagreement with the violent methods used by Escobar. Added to this, the Cali Cartel opposed a "war quota" against the government by refusing to pay for it. Another version suggests the Cali Cartel's zeal to take control of the drug market in Los Angeles and Miami since it currently monopolized drug trafficking in New York City, according to a DEA analysis. another version suggests that the Cali Cartel informed on Jorge Luis Ochoa, Escobar's partner, while Ochoa was in Buga, Valle del Cauca. This has been denied since Ochoa and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela had shared a cell in Spain where they were to be extradited to the United States, but both were repatriated to Colombia where they served ridiculous prison sentences. According to Jhon Jairo Velásquez 'Popeye', a hitman for the Medellín Cartel, the dispute between the two sides began due to disputes between employees of Pablo Escobar and Hélmer Herrera:

The war began with a love affair between “Piña” and Jorge Elí “El Negro” Pabón. “El Negro” Pabón was a man very loyal to Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria and Alejo Piña was a man of “Pacho” Herrera, both had been friends in a New York prison, but when El Negro got out of prison, he found out that Piña was living with his former wife, El Negro spoke with the boss [Escobar] and they agreed that Piña had to be killed; As the Medellín Cartel killed Hugo Hernán Valencia, a man who had had a problem with Gilberto Rodríguez, we asked the Rodríguez family to return the favor, to let us kill Piña or for them to take care of him themselves, with their people. We did not know about the economic and military power of “Pacho” Herrera. The Rodríguez family, instead of explaining this to their boss, went directly to tell 'Pacho' Herrera that the Medellín Cartel wanted to kill Piña, and that’s when war broke out.

— Jhon Jairo Velásquez 'Popeye'

Hugo Hernán Valencia and Pablo Correa Arroyave were the main money launderers for the Cartel. Both had a feud with the heads of the Cali Cartel and the latter had asked Escobar to do them a favor by killing them. But when the Cali Cartel refused to kill Piña, Escobar allowed Pabón to kill Piña. In retaliation, on January 13, 1988, 'Pacho' Herrera ordered his men to place a car bomb at the Monaco tower in the El Poblado sector of Medellín, where Escobar's family resided. The attack left a large crater and killed three people. Among the wounded was Manuela Escobar, Escobar's daughter, who had hearing damage in one of her ears. None of the residents were killed. In retaliation, hitmen from the Medellin Cartel attacked the businesses and properties of the Cali Cartel. On February 18, 1988, a branch of La Rebaja Pharmacies in Medellin, followed by nearly 40 dynamite attacks against the drugstores, and 10 more against the Colombian Radio Group, both belonging to the Rodríguez Orejuela family. 1988 marked the beginning of espionage and counterespionage offensives. First, Escobar set up an intelligence operation against the Cali Cartel. The Rodríguez Orejuela family, in turn, hired five retired military officers to form an espionage service against Escobar. Escobar discovered them and kidnapped them. The Cali Cartel then made a peace proposal, to which Escobar set two conditions: Compensation of 5 million dollars for the attack on the Monaco building, and the surrender of Pacho Herrera, Escobar's staunch enemy. Gilberto Rodríguez refused to surrender and the five ex-military men were found dead a few days later with a sign that read "Members of the Cali Cartel executed for attempting to attack people from Medellín."

In December 1988, Escobar's hitmen attempt to kidnap Pacho Herrera in Cali, the operation fails and Herrera becomes Escobar's main target.

1989 offensive and failed negotiations

See also: Avianca Flight 203, DAS Building bombing, and Assasination of Luis Carlos Galán

Minister of Justice Enrique Low Murtra signed the extradition orders for Escobar and his cartel aasociates. A few days later, the politician and candidate for mayor of Medellín, Juan Gómez Martínez, was saved from an attempted kidnapping claimed by Los Extraditables, while Jorge Luis Ochoa was released with impunity under the right of habeas corpus a month later.

Andrés Pastrana, in 1988 candidate for mayor of Bogotá kidnapped by orders from Escobar, and later president of Colombia (1998-2002).

On January 16, 1988, Escobar's hitmen kidnapped Andrés Pastrana (candidate for mayor of Bogotá and later President of Colombia) and held him hidden for several days on a farm near Rionegro. On January 25, 1988, cartel hitmen kidnapped Carlos Mauro Hoyos (Attorney General of the Nation), as he was heading to the airport in Rionegro (Antioquia).Although the plan was to keep both Hoyos and Pastrana captive in the same place, the money lavishness of Jorge Restrepo, the front man in charge of Pastrana who was held captive (barely a week) caught the attention of the authorities and the police managed to free Pastrana. But in retaliation, alias 'Popeye' shot and killed Carlos Mauro Hoyos (48), who had been kidnapped for 10 hours. In March 1988, several hundred police officers descended on the El Bizcocho estate (owned by Escobar), but he was warned at the last minute by the corrupt Lieutenant Colonel Plinio Correa of Police Intelligence B-2 and managed to escape.

In July 1988, the Secretary General of the Presidency, Germán Montoya, had entered into talks with spokesmen for Los Extraditables. Subsequent statements by the government were interpreted by the druglords as an invitation to dialogue, so on September 15, they responded with a letter to the Barco administration, and sent Montoya a bill for pardons and a demobilization plan. However, given the intransigence of the United States, reluctant to the possibility of dialogue with the druglords, the talks were delayed and in the end they were presented as the personal initiative of the intermediary, disassociating the president from them.

In March 1989, hitmen from Los Extraditables killed Héctor Giraldo Gálvez, the Lara case manager replacing Castro Gil, and two months later they blew up the headquarters of the TV production company Mundo Visión. On May 4, 1989, the former governor of Boyacá, Álvaro González Santana, father of Judge Martha Lucía González, was assassinated. After the attempted assassination of the head of the DAS, General Miguel Maza Márquez on May 30, 1989 in Bogotá, using a powerful explosive charge in a letter bomb that killed 7 people. On July 4, 1989, in Medellín, in an attack targeting Colonel Valdemar Franklin Quintero, the governor of Antioquia, Antonio Roldán Betancur, died along with five of his companions.

Escobar still held a grudge against Luis Carlos Galán for kicking him out of politics, so Galán was assassinated on 18 August 1989 at Escobar's orders. Escobar then planted a bomb on Avianca Flight 203 in an attempt to assassinate Galán's successor, César Gaviria Trujillo, who missed the plane and survived. All 107 people were killed in the blast. Because two Americans were also killed in the bombing, the U.S. government began to intervene directly.

La Catedral prison

Main article: La Catedral

After the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, the administration of César Gaviria moved against Escobar and the drug cartels. Eventually, the government negotiated with Escobar and convinced him to surrender and cease all criminal activity in exchange for a reduced sentence and preferential treatment during his captivity. Declaring an end to a series of previous violent acts meant to pressure authorities and public opinion, Escobar surrendered to Colombian authorities in 1991. Before he gave himself up, the extradition of Colombian citizens to the United States had been prohibited by the newly approved Colombian Constitution of 1991. This act was controversial, as it was suspected that Escobar and other drug lords had influenced members of the Constituent Assembly in passing the law. Escobar was confined in what became his own luxurious private prison, La Catedral, which featured a football pitch, a giant dollhouse, a bar, a Jacuzzi, and a waterfall. Accounts of Escobar's continued criminal activities while in prison began to surface in the media, which prompted the government to attempt to move him to a more conventional jail on 22 July 1992. Escobar's influence allowed him to discover the plan in advance and make a successful escape, spending the remainder of his life evading the police.

Death

Main articles: Los Pepes and Search Bloc

Members of Search Bloc celebrate over Escobar's body on 2 December 1993. His death ended a 16-month search effort.

The tomb of Pablo Escobar and family in the Monte Sacro Cemetery, Itagüí

Escobar faced threats from the Colombian police, the U.S. government and his rivals, the Cali Cartel. On 2 December 1993, Escobar was found in a house in a middle-class residential area of Medellín by Colombian special forces, using technology provided by the United States which allowed them to trace Escobar's location after he made a call to his family. Police tried to arrest Escobar but the situation quickly escalated to an exchange of gunfire. Escobar was shot and killed while trying to escape from the roof, along with a bodyguard who was also shot. He was hit by bullets in the torso and feet, and a bullet which struck him in the head, killing him. This sparked debate about whether he killed himself or whether he was shot and killed.

Aftermath of his death

Soon after Escobar's death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the cocaine market became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders were either killed or captured by the Colombian government. The Robin Hood image that Escobar had cultivated maintained a lasting influence in Medellín. Many there, especially many of the city's poor whom Escobar had aided while he was alive, mourned his death, and over 25,000 people attended his funeral. Some of them consider him a saint and pray to him for receiving divine help. Escobar was buried at the Monte Sacro Cemetery.

Virginia Vallejo's testimony

See also: Virginia Vallejo, Alberto Santofimio, Alfonso López Michelsen, Ernesto Samper, and Álvaro Uribe

On 4 July 2006, Virginia Vallejo, a television anchorwoman romantically involved with Escobar from 1983 to 1987, offered Attorney General Mario Iguarán her testimony in the trial against former Senator Alberto Santofimio, who was accused of conspiracy in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán. Iguarán acknowledged that, although Vallejo had contacted his office on 4 July, the judge had decided to close the trial on 9 July, several weeks before the prospective closing date. The action was seen as too late.

On 18 July 2006, Vallejo was taken to the United States on a special flight of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for "safety and security reasons" due to her cooperation in high-profile criminal cases. On 24 July, a video in which Vallejo had accused Santofimio of instigating Escobar to eliminate presidential candidate Galán was aired by RCN Television of Colombia. The video was seen by 14 million people, and was instrumental for the reopened case of Galán's assassination. On 31 August 2011 Santofimio was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in the crime.

Role in the Palace of Justice siege

Escobar funded the M-19 communist guerrilla for the assault of the Colombian Palace of Justice.

Among Escobar's biographers, only Vallejo has given a detailed explanation of his role in the 1985 Palace of Justice siege. She stated that Escobar had financed the operation, which was committed by M-19; she blamed the army for the killings of more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court magistrates, M-19 members, and employees of the cafeteria. Her statements prompted the reopening of the case in 2008; Vallejo was asked to testify, and many of the events she had described in her book and testimonial were confirmed by Colombia's Commission of Truth. These events led to further investigation into the siege that resulted with the conviction of a high-ranking former colonel and a former general, later sentenced to 30 and 35 years in prison, respectively, for the forced disappearance of the detained after the siege. Vallejo would subsequently testify in Galán's assassination. In her book, Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), she had accused several politicians, including Colombian presidents Alfonso López Michelsen, Ernesto Samper, and Álvaro Uribe of having links to drug cartels.

Relatives

Escobar's widow (María Henao, now María Isabel Santos Caballero), son (Juan Pablo, now Sebastián Marroquín Santos) and daughter (Manuela) fled Colombia in 1995 after failing to find a country that would grant them asylum. Despite Escobar's numerous and continual infidelities, Maria remained supportive of her husband. Members of the Cali Cartel even replayed their recordings of her conversations with Pablo for their wives to demonstrate how a woman should behave. This attitude proved to be the reason the cartel did not kill her and her children after Pablo's death, although the group demanded and received millions of dollars in reparations for Escobar's war against them. Henao even successfully negotiated for her son's life by personally guaranteeing he would not seek revenge against the cartel or participate in the drug trade.

Sebastián Marroquín (born as Juan Pablo Escobar) is an outspoken critic of the violent deeds of his father.

After escaping first to Mozambique, then to Brazil, the family settled in Argentina. Living under her assumed name, Henao became a successful real estate entrepreneur until one of her business associates discovered her true identity, and Henao absconded with her earnings. Local media were alerted, and after being exposed as Escobar's widow, Henao was imprisoned for eighteen months while her finances were investigated. Ultimately, authorities were unable to link her funds to illegal activity, and she was released. According to her son, Henao fell in love with Escobar "because of his naughty smile [and] the way he looked at [her]. [He] was affectionate and sweet. A great lover. I fell in love with his desire to help people and his compassion for their hardship. We [would] drive to places where he dreamed of building schools for the poor. From [the] beginning, he was always a gentleman." María Victoria Henao de Escobar, with her new identity as María Isabel Santos Caballero, continues to live in Buenos Aires with her son and daughter. On 5 June 2018, the Argentine federal judge Nestor Barral accused her and her son, Sebastián Marroquín Santos, of money laundering with two Colombian drug traffickers. The judge ordered the seizing of assets for about $1m each.

Argentinian filmmaker Nicolas Entel's documentary Sins of My Father (2009) chronicles Marroquín's efforts to seek forgiveness, on behalf of his father, from the sons of Rodrigo Lara, Colombia's justice minister who was assassinated in 1984, as well as from the sons of Luis Carlos Galán, the presidential candidate who was assassinated in 1989. The film was shown at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and premiered in the U.S. on HBO in October 2010. In 2014, Marroquín published Pablo Escobar, My Father under his birth name. The book provides a firsthand insight into details of his father's life and describes the fundamentally disintegrating effect of his death upon the family. Marroquín aimed to publish the book in hopes to resolve any inaccuracies regarding his father's excursions during the 1990s.

Escobar's sister, Luz Maria Escobar, made multiple gestures in attempts to make amends for the drug baron's crimes. These include making public statements in the press, leaving letters on the graves of his victims, and, on the 20th anniversary of his death, organizing a public memorial for his victims. Escobar's body was exhumed on 28 October 2006 at the request of some of his relatives in order to take a DNA sample to confirm the alleged paternity of an illegitimate child and remove all doubt about the identity of the body that had been buried next to his parents for 12 years. A video of the exhumation was broadcast by RCN, angering Marroquín, who accused his uncle, Roberto Escobar, and cousin, Nicolas Escobar, of being "merchants of death" by allowing the video to air.

Hacienda Nápoles

After Escobar's death, the ranch, zoo and citadel at Hacienda Nápoles were given by the government to low-income families under a law called Extinción de Dominio (Domain Extinction). The property has been converted into a theme park surrounded by four luxury hotels overlooking the zoo.

Escobar Inc

In 2014, Roberto Escobar founded Escobar Inc with Olof K. Gustafsson and registered Successor-In-Interest rights for his brother Pablo Escobar in California, United States.

Hippos

Main article: Pablo Escobar's hippos

Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at Hacienda Nápoles. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's death, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River. In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd and, after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities. As of early 2014, 40 hippos have been reported to exist in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia Department, from the original four belonging to Escobar. As of 2016, without management, the population size is likely to more than double in the next decade.

The National Geographic Channel produced a documentary about them titled Cocaine Hippos. A report published in a Yale student magazine noted that local environmentalists are campaigning to protect the animals, although there is no clear plan for what will happen to them. In 2018, National Geographic published another article on the hippos which found disagreement among environmentalists on whether they were having a positive or negative impact but that conservationists and locals – particularly those in the tourism industry – were mostly in support of their continued presence. By October 2021, the Colombian government had started a program of chemically sterilizing the animals.

Apartment demolition

On 22 February 2019, at 11:53 AM local time, Medellín authorities demolished the six-story Edificio Mónaco apartment complex in the El Poblado neighborhood where, according to retired Colombian general Rosso José Serrano, Escobar planned some of his most brazen attacks. The building was initially built for Escobar's wife but was gutted by a Cali Cartel car bomb in 1988 and had remained unoccupied ever since, becoming an attraction to foreign tourists seeking out Escobar's physical legacy. Mayor Federico Gutierrez had been pushing to raze the building and erect in its place a park honoring the thousands of cartel victims, including four presidential candidates and some 500 police officers. Colombian President Ivan Duque said the demolition "means that history is not going to be written in terms of the perpetrators, but by recognizing the victims", hoping the demolition would showcase that the city had evolved significantly and had more to offer than the legacy left by the cartels.

Personal life

Family and relationships

In March 1976, the 26-year-old Escobar married María Victoria Henao Vallejo, who was 15. The relationship was discouraged by the Henao Vallejo family, who considered Escobar socially inferior; the pair eloped, despite being a close friend of Mario Henao Vallejo, who would become his brother-in-law. They had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela. In 2007, the journalist Virginia Vallejo published her memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), in which she describes her romantic relationship with Escobar and the links of her lover with several presidents, Caribbean dictators, and high-profile politicians. Her book inspired the movie Loving Pablo (2017). A drug distributor, Griselda Blanco, is also reported to have conducted a clandestine but passionate relationship with Escobar; several items in her diary link him with the nicknames "Coque de Mi Rey" (My Coke King) and "Polla Blanca" (White Cock).

Properties

After becoming wealthy, Escobar created or bought numerous residences and safe houses, with the Hacienda Nápoles gaining significant notoriety. The luxury house contained a colonial house, a sculpture park, and a complete zoo with animals from various continents, including elephants, exotic birds, giraffes, and hippopotamuses. Escobar had also planned to construct a Greek-style citadel near it, and though construction of the citadel was started, it was never finished.

Escobar owned a home in the US under his own name: a 6,500 square foot (604 m²), pink, waterfront mansion situated at 5860 North Bay Road in Miami Beach, Florida. The four-bedroom estate, built in 1948 on Biscayne Bay, was seized by the US federal government in the 1980s. Later, the dilapidated property was owned by Christian de Berdouare, proprietor of the Chicken Kitchen fast-food chain, who had bought it in 2014. De Berdouare would later hire a documentary film crew and professional treasure hunters to search the edifice before and after demolition, for anything related to Escobar or his cartel. They would find unusual holes in floors and walls, as well as a safe that was stolen from its hole in the marble flooring before it could be properly examined.

Escobar owned a huge Caribbean getaway on Isla Grande, the largest of the cluster of the 27 coral cluster islands comprising Islas del Rosario, located about 35 km (22 mi) from Cartagena. The compound, now half-demolished and overtaken by vegetation and wild animals, featured a mansion, apartments, courtyards, a large swimming pool, a helicopter landing pad, reinforced windows, tiled floors, and a large but unfinished building to the side of the mansion.

In popular culture

Books

Fernando Botero's portrayal of Escobar's death

Escobar has been the subject of several books, including the following:

• Escobar (2010), by Roberto Escobar, written by his brother shows how he became infamous and ultimately died.
• Escobar Gaviria, Roberto (2016). My Brother – Pablo Escobar. Escobar, Inc. ISBN 978-0692706374.
• Kings of Cocaine (1989), by Guy Gugliotta, retells the history and operations of the Medellín Cartel, and Escobar's role within it.
• Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw (2001), by Mark Bowden, relates how Escobar was killed and his cartel dismantled by U.S. special forces and intelligence, the Colombian military, and Los Pepes.
• Pablo Escobar: My Father (2016), by Juan Pablo Escobar, translated by Andrea Rosenberg.
• Pablo Escobar: Beyond Narcos (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells the story of Escobar and the Medellín Cartel in the context of the failed War on Drugs; ISBN 978-1537296302
• American Made: Who Killed Barry Seal? Pablo Escobar or George HW Bush (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells Pablo's story as a suspect in the murder of CIA pilot Barry Seal; ISBN 978-1537637198
• Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar (2017) by Virginia Vallejo, originally published by Penguin Random House in Spanish in 2007, and later translated to 16 languages.
• News of a Kidnapping, (original Spanish title: Noticia de un secuestro) non-fiction 1996 book by Gabriel García Márquez, and published in English in 1997.

Films

Two major feature films on Escobar, Escobar (2009) and Killing Pablo (2011), were announced in 2007. Details about them, and additional films about Escobar, are listed below.

• Blow, a 2001 American biographical film based on George Jung, a member of the Medellín Cartel; Escobar was portrayed by Cliff Curtis.
• Pablo Escobar: The King of Coke (2007) is a TV movie documentary by National Geographic, featuring archival footage and commentary by stakeholders.
• Escobar (2009) was delayed because of producer Oliver Stone's involvement with the George W. Bush biopic W. (2008). As of 2008, the release date of Escobar remained unconfirmed. Regarding the film, Stone said: "This is a great project about a fascinating man who took on the system. I think I have to thank Scarface, and maybe even Ari Gold."
• Killing Pablo (2011) was supposedly in development for several years, directed by Joe Carnahan. It was to be based on Mark Bowden's 2001 book of the same title, which in turn was based on his 31-part Philadelphia Inquirer series of articles on the subject. The cast was reported to include Christian Bale as Major Steve Jacoby and Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez as Escobar. In December 2008, Bob Yari, producer of Killing Pablo, filed for bankruptcy.
• Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014) a romantic thriller in which a naive Canadian surfer falls in love with a girl who turns out to be Escobar's niece.
• Loving Pablo (2017), Spanish film based on Virginia Vallejo's book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar with Javier Bardem as Escobar, and Penélope Cruz as Virginia Vallejo.
• American Made (2017), American action-comedy film loosely based on the life of Barry Seal; Escobar was portrayed by Mauricio Mejía.
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022), American biopic parody loosely based on the life of "Weird Al" Yankovic; Arturo Castro portrays Escobar who is depicted as a Weird Al fan who kidnaps Weird Al's girlfriend, Madonna, to lure him to play at his fortieth birthday party. Weird Al instead murders him.

Television

• In 2005, Court TV (now TruTV) crime documentary series Mugshots released an episode on Escobar titled "Pablo Escobar – Hunting The Druglord".
• In the 2007 HBO television series, Entourage, actor Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier) is cast as Escobar in a fictional film entitled Medellín.
• One of ESPN's 30 for 30 series films, The Two Escobars (2010), by directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, looks back at Colombia's World Cup run in 1994 and the relationship between sports and the country's criminal gangs — notably the Medellín narcotics cartel run by Escobar. The other Escobar in the film title refers to former Colombian defender Andrés Escobar (no relation to Pablo), who was shot and killed one month after conceding an own goal that contributed to the elimination of the Colombian national team from the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
• Caracol TV produced a television series, El cartel (The Cartel), which began airing on 4 June 2008 where Escobar is portrayed by an unknown model when he is shot down by Cartel del Sur's hitmen.
• Also Caracol TV produced a TV Series, Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (Pablo Escobar, The Boss of Evil), which began airing on 28 May 2012, and stars Andrés Parra as Pablo Escobar. It is based on Alonso Salazar's book La parábola de Pablo. Parra reprises his role in TV series Football Dreams, A World of Passion and in the first season of El Señor de los Cielos. Parra has declared not to play the character again so as not to typecast himself.
• RTI Producciones produced a TV Series for RCN Televisión, Tres Caínes, was released on 4 March 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by the Colombian actor Juan Pablo Franco (who portrayed general Muriel Peraza in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) in the first phase of the series. Franco reprises his role in Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ.
• Also in 2013, Fox Telecolombia produced for RCN Televisión a TV Series, Alias El Mexicano, released on 5 November 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by an unknown actor in a minor role.
• A Netflix original television series depicting the story of Escobar, titled Narcos, was released on 28 August 2015, starring Brazilian actor Wagner Moura as Pablo. Season two premiered on the streaming service on 2 September 2016.
• In 2016, Teleset and Sony Pictures Television produced for RCN Televisión the TV Series En la boca del lobo, was released on 16 August 2016, which Escobar is portrayed by Fabio Restrepo (who portrayed Javier Ortiz in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) as the character of Flavio Escolar.
• National Geographic in 2016 broadcast a biography series Facing that included an episode featuring Escobar.
• On 24 January 2018, Netflix released the 68-minute-long documentary Countdown to Death: Pablo Escobar directed by Santiago Diaz and Pablo Martin Farina.
• Killing Escobar was a documentary televised in the UK in 2021. It concerned a failed attempt by mercenaries, contracted by the Cali Cartel and led by Peter McAleese, to assassinate Escobar in 1989.
• Fox Telecolombia produced in 2019 a TV Series, El General Naranjo, which aired on 24 May 2019, which Escobar is portrayed by the Colombian actor Federico Rivera.

Music

• The 2013 song "Pablo" by American rapper E-40 serves as an ode to the legacy of Pablo Escobar.
• The 2016 album The Life of Pablo by American rapper Kanye West was named after the three Pablos who inspired and represented some part of the album, with one of them being Pablo Escobar.
• Dubdogz's "Pablo Escobar" (feat. Charlott Boss), released in 2020, has garnered more than 5.6 million views for its official music video.
• The 2018 hit single Narcos by the Atlanta-based rap group Migos from their album Culture II makes references to Pablo Escobar as well as the Medellin Cartel, and the Netflix series Narcos.

External links

Media related to Pablo Escobar at Wikimedia Commons

• "The Abandoned House of Pablo Escobar". noaccess.eu. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
• Pablo Escobar at IMDb