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EspañolPABLO ESCOBAR
'Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria' (December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) gained world infamy as a Colombian drug dealer. Escobar became so wealthy in the drug trade that in 1989 ''Forbes'' magazine had listed him as the seventh richest man in the world. He is widely considered to be one of the most brutally ruthless, ambitious, and powerful drug dealers in history.
Early life
Pablo Escobar began his criminal life as a teenage car thief in the streets of Medellín. He claims he was sexually assaulted as a child. This traumatic event caused much havoc on his development as an adult and jumpstarted his criminal lifestyle. He allegedly also stole headstones from graveyards and sold them in other villages of Antioquia (this allegation has never been proven). He eventually moved into the cocaine business and began building an enormous drug empire during the 1970s.
His reputation grew after a well known Medellín drug dealer named Fabio Restrepo was murdered in 1975 reportedly by Escobar, from whom he had purchased 14 kilograms of cocaine, and all of Restrepo's men were informed that they were to work for Escobar. In May 1976 Escobar and several of his men were arrested after returning from a drug run to Ecuador. As the case against Pablo was being made he tried to bribe the judge but was unsuccessful. After many months of legal wrangling Pablo had the two arresting officers killed and the case was dropped. It was here that he began his pattern of dealing with the authorities by either bribing them or killing them.
Gaining notoriety
In 1982 , Escobar was elected as a deputy/alternate representative to the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia's Congress, as part of the Colombian Liberal Party.[1]
During the 1980s, Escobar became known internationally as his drug network gained notoriety; ''El Cartel de Medellín'' is said to have controlled a large portion of the drugs that entered into the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic with cocaine brought mostly from Peru and Bolivia, as Colombian coca was initially of substandard quality. Escobar's product reached many other nations, mostly around the Americas, although it is said that his network reached as far as Asia.
Escobar bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians. He often personally executed uncooperative subordinates and had anyone else he viewed as a threat assassinated, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of individuals, including civilians, many policemen and state officials. Corruption and intimidation characterized the Colombian system during Escobar's heyday. He had an effective, inescapable strategy that was referred to as ''plata o plomo''; Spanish for "Silver or Lead," intended to mean "accept a bribe or face assassination." He was responsible for the murder of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, one of three assassinated candidates who were all competing in the same election, as well as the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 and a Bogotá security building in 1989. The Cartel de Medellín was also involved in a deadly drug war with its main rival, the Cartel De Cali, for most of its existence.
It has been claimed that Escobar was behind the 1985 storming of the Colombian Supreme Court by left-wing guerrillas from the 19th of April Movement, also known as M-19, which resulted in the murder of half the judges on the court. Some of these claims were included in a late 2006 report by a Truth Commission integrated by three judges of the current Supreme Court. One of the included claims was made by 'Popeye', a former Escobar hitman. At the time of the siege, the Supreme Court was studying the constitutionality of Colombia's extradition treaty with the U.S.[2] Former M-19 leaders that did not participate in the events have denied that the druglord was behind the assault on the Supreme Court.
Height of power
'Pablo Escobar' at the height of power
At the height of his empire, Escobar was estimated by ''Forbes'' magazine to be the seventh-richest man in the world,[3] with his company Medellín Cartel controlling 80 percent of the cocaine market. It is estimated that the Medellín cartel was taking in up to $30 billion annually at its zenith.
While seen as an enemy of the United States and Colombian governments, Escobar was a hero to many in Medellín (especially people from the slums); he was a natural at public relations and he worked to create goodwill among Colombia's poor. A lifelong sports fan, he was credited with building football fields and multi-sports courts, sponsoring also little league football teams in the city. Pablo Escobar was also responsible for the construction of many churches in Medellín gaining popularity inside the local Roman Catholic Church.[4] He worked hard to cultivate his Robin Hood image and frequently distributed money to the poor. He would also build houses for the poor, gaining followers on his way. The population of Medellín often helped Escobar by serving as lookouts, hiding information from the authorities, or doing whatever else they could do to protect him.
La Catedral prison
A wanted poster of Escobar
In 1991, after declaring an end to a series of previous violent or terrorist acts meant to pressure authorities and public opinion, Escobar turned himself in to the Colombian government in order to avoid extradition to the United States or assassination by a rival cartel. Escobar was confined in what became his own luxurious private prison, ''La Catedral'', which he was allowed to build for his confinement in return for turning himself in. He negotiated an agreement with the Colombian government whereby he would be jailed for a mandatory five-year sentence and guaranteed no extradition to the United States, if he stopped any further drug trafficking activities. Before Escobar gave himself up, the extradition of Colombian citizens had been prohibited by the newly approved Colombian Constitution of 1991.
However, La Catedral prison was actually more of a country-club fortress, and he showed little regard for the sanctity of his sentence there. There have been allegations, many of them unconfirmed, that he was often seen outside of the jail: shopping in Medellín or at parties, soccer games, and other public places.[4] After an account appeared in the local media showing photos of his lavish jail/residence and claiming that he had murdered several business associates (the Moncada brothers) when they came to meet him at ''La Catedral'', public opinion forced the government to act. When the government attempted to move Escobar to another jail on July 22, 1992, he escaped, fearing that he could be extradited to the United States.
Search Bloc and Los Pepes
In 1992, United States Delta Force operators (and later Navy SEALs from SEAL Team Six) joined the all-out manhunt for Escobar. They trained and advised a special Colombian police task force, known as the Search Bloc, which had been created to locate Escobar. Later, as the conflict between Escobar and United States and Colombian governments dragged on and the numbers of his enemies grew, a vigilante group known as ''Los Pepes'' (People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar), financed by the Cali Cartel and Carlos Castaño (among others), carried out a bloody campaign fueled by thirst for vengeance in which more than 300 of Escobar's associates and relatives were slain and large amounts of his cartel's property were destroyed.
Some observers [4] claim that members of the Search Bloc, and also of Colombian and United States intelligence agencies, in their efforts to find and punish Escobar, either colluded with ''Los Pepes'' or would have been moonlighting as both Search Bloc and ''Los Pepes'' simultaneously. This coordination would be conducted mainly through sharing intelligence in order to allow ''Los Pepes'' to bring down the organizational mountain that protected Escobar and his few remaining allies, but there are reports that some individual Search Bloc members may have directly participated in missions of the ''Los Pepes'' death squads [4]. This brings into question the role the United States played in gathering intelligence on Escobar's organization, because some of this information was later used by the ''Los Pepes'' organization in its crusade of retributive executions [4]. One of the leaders of ''Los Pepes'' was Diego Murillo Bejarano (also known as "Don Berna"), a former Medellín Cartel associate who became a drug kingpin and eventually emerged as a leader of one of the most powerful factions within the AUC. Some have speculated that Murillo would have admitted to his organizations' potential connections to the U.S. if it were not for some unforeseen circumstances. There is still some debate on what reactions and responses this testimony would create within the two countries.
Personal life
In March 1976, Pablo married Maria Victoria. Together they had two children: Juan Pablo and Manuela. Escobar was known to have affairs with several women. Towards the end of his life he seemed to have shifted his sexual preferences to underage girls.[9]
Pablo Escobar created and lived in a luxurious estate called ''Hacienda Napoles'' (Spanish for ''Naples Ranch'') and had planned to construct a Greek-style citadel near it. Construction of the citadel was started but was never finished. The ranch, the zoo and the citadel were expropriated by the government and given to low-income families in the 1990s under a law called ''extinción de dominio'' (domain extinction).
Relatives
One of Escobar's surviving relatives is his cousin José Obdulio Gaviria. A lawyer, university professor and former member of the political movement ''Firmes'', which supported the 1982 presidential aspiration of leftwing politician Gerardo Molina, José Obdulio Gaviria became politically close to Álvaro Uribe, within the Colombian Liberal Party in Antioquia. Two of Gaviria's brothers were detained in the U.S. during 1983 on drug-related charges.[10][11]
After Uribe's election in 2002, Gaviria became one of his presidential advisors and has been said to be his "ideologue", often defending Uribe's government before the media. According to ''La Otra Verdad'' journalist Julio César García Vásquez, Escobar's and Uribe's families are genealogically related, sharing a distant ancestor.[12]
Death and afterward
Colombian policemen standing by Pablo Escobar's dead body on roof.
The war against Escobar ended on December 2, 1993, as he tried to elude the Search Bloc one more time. Using radio triangulation technology provided as part of the United States efforts, a Colombian electronic surveillance team found him hiding in a middle-class barrio in Medellín. A shootout between Escobar and the Search Bloc personnel ensued. How Escobar was killed during the confrontation has been debated but it is known that he was cornered on the rooftops of Medellín and after a prolonged gunfight, suffered gunshots to the leg, torso, and the fatal one in his ear. It has never been proven who actually fired the final shot into Escobar's head, whether this shot was made during the gunfight or as part of possible execution, and there is wide speculation about the subject.
After Escobar's death, the Medellín Cartel fragmented and the cocaine market soon became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel, until the mid-1990s when its leaders, too, were either killed or captured by the government.
The Robin Hood image that he had cultivated continued to have lasting influence in Medellín, as many there, especially those among the poor that he had aided while in life, lamented his death.
Exhumation
Colombian policemen posing by 'Pablo Escobar''s dead body. Mark Bowden's book cover.
On October 28, 2006, Escobar's body was exhumed by request of his nephew Nicolás Escobar, two days after the death of mother Hermilda Gaviria (who opposed exhumation) to verify that the body in the tomb was in fact that of Escobar and also to collect DNA for a paternity test claim. According to the report by the El Tiempo newspaper, Escobar's ex-wife Maria Victoria was present recording the exhumation with a video camera.[13][14]
Recent news
★ In 2006 , Escobar's lifelong girlfriend and socialite Virginia Vallejo, revealed a video in which she exposes some of the dreadful historic events in Colombia that she witnessed back in the 80's, and which were planned by Pablo Escobar and Alberto Santofimio, a former Colombian politician, linking these two criminals to public well-known figures like former Colombian presidents Ernesto Samper and Alfonso Lopez Michelsen. She argued that Escobar and Santofimio were the masterminds behind the murder of Luis Carlos Galán, a Colombian presidential candidate in the early 1990s.
★ In late 2006, a Truth Commission, integrated by three judges of the current Supreme Court, presented a document which argued that the M-19 met with Escobar, received money from the cartel and executed some joint actions, although some M-19 members disagreed with that course of action. It also mentioned a claim made by former Escobar associate John Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, "Popeye", implicating the druglord in the events, allegedly through the payment of some 2 million dollars to the rebel group. At the time of the siege, the Supreme Court was studying the constitutionality of Colombia's extradition treaty with the U.S.[2]
In popular culture
Artist Fernando Botero, a native of Antioquia, the same region as Escobar, portrayed 'Pablo Escobar''s death in one of his paintings about the violence in Colombia.
★ The cut-throat business nature of Escobar is depicted in the 2001 drama film ''Blow ''in which Escobar, played by Cliff Curtis, becomes a business contact of the main character George Jung.
★ The hunt for Escobar was documented in Mark Bowden's book ''Killing Pablo''. A TV movie based on the book was titled ''The True Story of Killing Pablo''[16], and a motion picture based on this book is scheduled for release sometime in 2009.[17]
★ The 2007 film ''Pablo of Medellin'' by Jorge Granier-Phelps explores the mixed legacy of a man hailed in the Barrio as a saint while despised elswhere as a demon.
★ The plot and characters of the Tom Clancy novel ''Clear and Present Danger'' (and subsequent motion picture of the same name) are similar, featuring a Colombian drug lord named "Ernesto Escobedo"
★ Gabriel Garcia Marquez' book "News of a Kidnapping" details the series of abductions that Escobar masterminded to pressure the then Colombian government into guaranteeing him non-extradition if he turned himself in.
★ Riley Freeman, a character in The Boondocks comic strip uses the nickname "Esco", after Pablo Escobar. He has also instructed other characters in the strip to refer to him as "Mr. Escobar."[18]
★ In the video game "", the airport is named Escobar International Airport
★ In the HBO series ''Entourage'', the main character Vincent Chase plays the lead role in "Medellín", a film about the life story of Pablo Escobar.
★ In 1994 after Pablo Escobar's death, the death metal band Brujeria released a single named "El patrón", after Escobar's nickname.
★ Rapper Nasir Jones, better known as Nas, took the nickname "Nas Escobar" when drug-dealer culture became more and more relevant within rapping. He used it most primarily while as a member of his supergroup The Firm. Since then, he is sometimes referred to as "Esco", "Nas Escobar", etc.
★ In Rick Ross' first hit single "Hustlin," there are numerous references to Pablo Escobar. "I know Pablo, Noreaga - the real Noriega he owe me a hundred favors."
★ In the film ''Traffic'', Catherine Zeta Jones' character says her recently jailed husband is being compared to Pablo Escobar.
★ The Latin musical group, Los Tigres del Norte, wrote a song about Pablo Escobar, and his donations to the poor.
★ The Serbian rock band Deca Losih Muzicara recorded a song lamenting the death of Don Pablo Escobar.
★ The hardcore punk band Underminded has a song on their first full length titled "Pablo Escobar's Secret Stash."
See also
★ George Jung & Ochoa
★ Medellín Cartel
★ ''Blow''
★ Operation Pseudo Miranda
External links
★ Pablo Escobar's recent disinterment video
★ Pablo Escobar, the coke's tzar
★ HBO's Entourage - Medellin the Film
Notes
1. "Así conocí a Pablo Escobar". Revista Semana. May 12, 2007.
2. http://www.elpais.com.co/paisonline/notas/Noviembre162006/pablo.html
3. This list only includes individuals who are alive at the time of publication around that time. Pablo Escobar is no longer listed in it.
4. Mark Bowden. "Killing Pablo: The Hunt For The World's Greatest Outlaw." Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 2001
5. Mark Bowden. "Killing Pablo: The Hunt For The World's Greatest Outlaw." Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 2001
6. Mark Bowden. "Killing Pablo: The Hunt For The World's Greatest Outlaw." Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 2001
7. Mark Bowden. "Killing Pablo: The Hunt For The World's Greatest Outlaw." Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 2001
8. Mark Bowden. "Killing Pablo: The Hunt For The World's Greatest Outlaw." Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 2001
9. Simon Strong "Whitewash: Pablo Escobar and the cocaine wars" Macmillan, London 1995
10. [1]
11. [2]
12. [3]
13. EL TIEMPO - Pablo Escobar's body exhumed
14. Video of Escobar's exhumation
15. http://www.elpais.com.co/paisonline/notas/Noviembre162006/pablo.html
16. [4]
17. [5]
18. [6]
19. ''Pablo Presidente. Soberania e independencia''
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