British photographer James Mollison spent three years documenting the legacy of cocaine king Pablo Escobar, who left thousands of victims and admirers in Colombia.

Most Colombians consider Pablo Escobar a criminal who plunged the country into chaos for a decade, but in the poor neighborhoods of his native Medellin they call him Robin Hood. The drug lord donated millions of dollars earned from supplying cocaine to the United States to public housing, churches and football grounds.

Many Colombians remember the free tours of the zoo at Escobar's estate, Hacienda Napoles, where elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses, hippos and exotic birds were kept. The area rebuilt in Medellin with the money of the cocaine king is still called the Pablo Escobar quarter: the walls of the houses here are decorated with portraits of the drug lord and the inscription “Saint Pablo”, and his grave is visited by thousands of people, despite the struggle of the authorities with the cult of the former “master” of the city.

As Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (left). Wax figure from the collection of the Police Museum (right).

Pablo on his first communion, 1956.

Drug business

Escobar, the son of a farmer and a schoolteacher, began his criminal career by stealing tombstones from a Medellin cemetery. At the age of twenty, he was already at the head of a gang that was engaged in car thefts. When cocaine began to replace marijuana on the global market in the 1970s, Escobar took up drugs: he started as a supplier, reselling Colombian cocaine to dealers in the United States, but soon controlled the entire chain. He opened his first laboratory in Medellin, and then a whole network of factories appeared in tropical forests throughout the country.

In 1977, Escobar founded the Medellin cocaine cartel, and a year later his partner Carlos Lehder bought one of the Bahamas - where passenger flights from Colombia landed, loaded with cocaine, which was then transported on a private plane to Georgia and Florida. Two submarines were also used for smuggling.

Structure of the Medellin Cartel, 1989.

In a short time, the cartel managed to capture about 80 percent of the cocaine market in the United States and practically monopolize drug trafficking to Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Spain. During its heyday, Escobar's cartel earned about $60 million a day, and Forbes magazine estimated the drug lord's personal fortune at three billion dollars in 1989.

Seized drug cargo (left). Jungle runway (right).

Fake license plates and masks of the kidnappers (left). Florida homes bought by Escobar in 1981 (right).

Cartel money seized during a search, 1989.

Policy

In 1982, Escobar was elected to the position of alternate member of the Colombian Congress, received parliamentary immunity and represented the country at the inauguration ceremony of Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez. But the following year, Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonia publicly accused Escobar of drug trafficking and organizing a criminal gang: based on the data he collected, the cocaine king was expelled from Congress in January 1984. A few months later, the ministerial Mercedes was shot at point-blank range with a machine gun, Lara Bonia died on the spot.

That same year, Colombian authorities ratified a treaty with the United States on the extradition of drug cartel leaders. In response, the leaders of the Medellin cartel created the Los Extraditables group, which began to carry out intimidation actions: attacks on officials, police officers and politicians.

A wall in one of the houses in Escobar's quarter (left). Meeting with voters, 1982 (right).

Debate in Congress after Escobar was accused of drug trafficking.

Escobar at the inauguration ceremony as Prime Minister of Spain, Madrid, 1982.

Family

In 1976, Escobar married his girlfriend Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo, soon they had a son, Juan Pablo, and three years later, a daughter, Manuela. Since 1979, they lived in the Hacienda Napoles estate, purchased for $63 million, covering an area of ​​three thousand hectares.

It is known that, even while on the wanted list, the drug lord tried to spend all family holidays and birthdays with his children. In 1993, when members of a rival gang launched a hunt for the relatives of the cocaine king, he hid with his family in the mountains and one evening burned two million dollars in a fire so that Manuela would not freeze.

After Escobar's murder, his family fled to Mozambique and then to Argentina, where Juan Pablo took the name Sebastian Marroquín. In 2009, he publicly apologized to the children of politicians killed by order of the leader of the Medellin cartel, and in 2014 he published a book of memoirs and launched a line of T-shirts with his father’s image. Two books about Escobar were also written by his brother Roberto and one by both sisters.

Photos at the house of Escobar's mother Hermilda Gaviria, 2005.

With his wife Maria Victoria, early 1980s.

In a prison cell with his wife and daughter, 1992 (left). With his sister on her 31st birthday, 1980 (right).

Son's birthday, Hacienda Napoles estate, 1989.

Terror

After the passage of the law on the extradition of drug cartel leaders to the United States, Escobar began sponsoring the militant group MAS (Death to Kidnappers). In addition to an impressive arsenal of weapons, it had its own aircraft with 30 pilots, and the militants were trained by American, Israeli and British instructors. In 1989, the leader of the Medellin cartel offered the Colombian government a deal: he would surrender to the police if the extradition law was repealed.

Having received a refusal, Escobar launched a reign of terror: within a year, the headquarters of the Administrative Department of Security, the country's main intelligence service, as well as the editorial offices of the newspapers El Espectador and Vanguardia Liberal, were blown up in Bogotá; a Supreme Court judge, a police colonel and presidential candidate Luis Carlos were killed at the hands of killers Galan.

In addition, militants blew up a Boeing 727 plane - as a result of the terrorist attack, 110 people were killed.

The bombed building of the Security Department.

Victim of an attack.

The mother of a murdered policeman with photographs of her son.

Miguel Masa, director of the Administrative Department of Security from 1982 to 1991, survived seven attempts on his life by Escobar.

Charity

In 1979, Escobar established the social assistance system "Civic Responsibility in Action", under the auspices of which health centers for low-income families were founded in Medellin, green areas were created and sports facilities were built. The drug lord's most famous charitable program was the Medellin Without Slums project, which involved the construction of thousands of houses in the poorest region of Moravia.

The Pablo Escobar quarter was rebuilt in the city, which is now inhabited by almost 13 thousand residents. The program received the blessing of the Catholic Church, and in the slums of Medellin the drug lord was often seen distributing money to the poor in the company of two priests.

In 1989, the local football club Atlético Nacional, sponsored by Escobar, won the Copa Libertadores, becoming the best team in South America.

Celebration in honor of the first anniversary of the construction of Escobar's quarter, 1985.

At the opening of the football field, 1982.

Fundraising for the Medellin Without Slums program, 1983.

Eight hippos from the Escobar Zoo, 2004.

At the Hacienda Napoles Zoo, 1980s.

Death

In 1991, by agreement with the government, Escobar surrendered to justice; shortly before this, Colombia adopted a new Constitution prohibiting the extradition of its citizens.

The drug lord was placed in the La Catedral prison, built with his own money, which had a bar, a football field and a jacuzzi. It was completely controlled by the Medellin cartel.

When a year later Escobar learned of President Cesar Gaviria's impending decision to transfer him to a regular prison, he escaped from La Catedral.

Identikit.

Device for intercepting calls.

Left: Escobar's call intercept map, 1993; Right: Escobar's personal phone.

La Catedral prison, 1992.

Security room.

In response, the head of state established a special search group under the leadership of Colonel Hugo Martinez, who coordinated efforts with American intelligence agencies. Los Pepes, a group of his competitors in the drug business, far-right guerrillas and victims of terror launched by the Medellin cartel, also joined the search for Escobar. Within a year, Los Pepes killed more than 300 cartel members and destroyed much of its property.

After fifteen months of searching, on December 2, 1993, a special team intercepted Escobar's call to his son and established his whereabouts. On the same day, he was shot dead on the roof of a house in Medellin.

Soldiers of a special search group with Escobar's body.

Escobar became a true legend; he turned out to be one of the most prominent drug lords in history. How rich was he?

Escobar's income

In the mid-eighties, Escobar's cartel was generating profits of $420 million a week, totaling about $22 billion a year.

One of the richest people in the world

80 percent

By the end of the eighties, it supplied 80 percent of the world's cocaine.

He smuggled about 15 tons of cocaine into the United States every day

According to journalist Ioan Grillo, the Medellin cartel transported most of the drugs directly through the Florida coast. “There are as many as one and a half thousand kilometers between the northern coast of Colombia and the coast of Florida, and all this time whoever was moving along this route was in full view of everyone. The Colombians and their American partners dumped bundles of goods directly into the sea, and speedboats awaiting delivery immediately departed from the coast. Sometimes the goods were dumped right on the Florida coast,” Grillo said.

King of America

In other words, four out of five Americans who used cocaine used a product supplied to them by El Patron.

The King of Cocaine was losing $2.1 billion every month, but it didn't matter.

Escobar's incredible wealth became a problem when he was unable to launder money fast enough. According to Roberto Escobar, the cartel's chief accountant and brother of a notorious drug lord, he began burying huge sums of money in Colombian fields, hiding them in dilapidated warehouses and the walls of the houses of cartel members. “Pablo earned so much that every year we wrote off ten percent of his earnings because the money was eaten by rats in warehouses, damaged by water or lost,” he said. Based on how much Escobar earned, ten percent represents a sum of $2.1 billion. Escobar simply had more money than he could use, so occasional losses due to rodents or mold were not a problem for him.

Every month he spent two and a half thousand dollars on elastic bands

While the constant need to hide, as well as losing money, was one problem, the brothers faced another, more basic problem - how to neatly organize banknotes? According to Roberto Escobar, the Medellin cartel spent about two and a half thousand dollars on rubber bands that were used to form bundles of banknotes.

He once lit a fire of two million dollars because his daughter was cold.

In 2009, Pablo Escobar's son Juan Pablo, now known as Sebastian Marroquín, described what life was like on the run with the King of Cocaine. The family was living in a mountainside shelter in Medellin when Pablo Manuela's daughter suffered a hypothermia attack, Marroquín said. Escobar decided to burn two million dollars worth of bills to keep his daughter warm.

Local Robin Hood

He was nicknamed "Robin Hood" as he gave money to the poor on the streets, built houses for the homeless, created seventy public football fields and started a zoo.

He made a deal with the Colombian government and agreed to go to prison, but on the condition that he build it himself. This is how Escobar’s luxurious prison “La Catedral” appeared

In 1991, Pablo Escobar was imprisoned in a prison he designed himself called La Catedral. Under the terms of the agreement reached with the Colombian government, Escobar could choose who would be imprisoned with him. He could also safely continue to carry out his cartel's business and receive visitors. La Catedral's grounds included a football field, barbecue area and patio, and the prison was located near another apartment complex he had built for his family. Also, representatives of the Colombian authorities could not drive closer than five kilometers to the prison territory.

Pablo Escobar is a famous native of Colombia, remembered throughout the world not so much as a prominent political figure, but as a drug lord. His biography and personal life, the fate of his family and loved ones arouse the curiosity of many. And so the son of this world famous man even published a book. Let's look at the main milestones in the life of the most famous criminal and politician.

general information

The full name of this prominent man is Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. He was born in the Colombian city of Rionegro on the first day of the last month of 1949. Pablo Escobar was one of the many children of his parents, and became the third. The father of the man who was destined to become a world-famous criminal was a farmer named Jesus Dari, and his mother was a schoolteacher, Dame Hemilda. As a teenager, Pablo spent a lot of time in the main city of the area, Antioquia, which is 27 kilometers from his hometown. Here, the future drug lord studied for a short time at the Autonomous Latin American University.

At the age of twenty-seven, the future drug lord Pablo Escobar officially let a young beautiful girl named Maria Victoria into his life. In the spring of 1976 they got married; Maria was only 15 years old at that moment. They had known each other for quite a long time, and just a month after the wedding ceremony, the couple’s first child was born. The boy was named Juan Pablo. After another 3.5 years, a girl was born. They decided to choose the name Manuela for their daughter.

Where does the fame come from?

Just having a wife for Pablo Escobar, even if he was so young, would not have made this man world famous. From the memories of relatives it is clear that from an early age the boy, and then the young man, was distinguished by his entrepreneurial spirit; his penchant for illegal undertakings and initiatives was immediately obvious. At first, this fit perfectly into the idea of ​​protesting against an unjust government system, but gradually this behavior became one of the aspects of his personality.

When he was still a young man, they said about Pablo Escobar that nothing was sacred to him - the young man made a living by stealing tombstones. An enterprising guy erased the inscriptions and sold the monuments as new. Realizing that this way of earning money was not the easiest, Pablo took up lottery tickets - counterfeiting and selling them. The next step in his career was work in the resale of marijuana and tobacco products, which was replaced by theft of cars. By this time, Pablo was no longer working alone - he had his own gang, and racketeering became the logical step in the development of its “career”. Car owners who wanted to ensure the safety of their vehicles paid compensation, for which the criminals promised not to touch the vehicle. However, as it turned out, this type of activity could not satisfy all the company’s appetites - so the group moved on to kidnapping people.

New Heights

From the biography of Pablo Escobar it is known that in 1977, with the participation of three other “colleagues,” the enterprising criminal founded the Medellin cartel. In the entire history of our civilization, this organization was the largest cocaine and money empire. As witnesses said, the owner personally controlled the quality of the product, checking almost every package sold. On the initiative of the entrepreneur, several laboratories equipped with the latest technology were built in the jungle, responsible for the production of narcotic substances. Just two years after the cartel appeared, it owned almost 80% of the entire American cocaine industry. The owner of the empire at that time was only 30, and even then he was considered one of the richest people living on the planet.

The curiosity of ordinary people for the full biography of Pablo Escobar is easily explained: this man forever entered himself into the history of mankind as one of the most famous, bloodiest, cruelest criminals of the last century. He was not afraid of prosecutors, judges became his victims, and he did not spare journalists. Ordinary citizens came under attack. Pablo was not afraid to get his hands dirty by destroying a plane filled with ordinary people; he commanded raids on police stations. Often victims died not just by his order, but by his hand.

Two sides of the coin

Interest in the full biography of Pablo Escobar evokes an ambiguous attitude from the public: it is known from reliable sources that poor people and young people valued and honored the drug lord as their hero. It would seem that if this were to happen, it would only be in his native country, but no: Pablo was heard all over the world, he became an idol of youth in the most remote corners of the planet. Escobar himself considered himself the embodiment of Robin Hood. He did not hesitate to admit that he made his fortune through completely dishonest means, that he chose a dangerous business for himself, and on the path to success he was not afraid to get his hands dirty by taking people’s lives. At the same time, a certain percentage of income was regularly spent on good causes.

Although some called Pablo Escobar "the master of evil", others could rightly object: this man built roads and allocated money for the creation of new stadiums. Under his control, houses were erected in which the poorest families could live free of charge. Some of the neighborhoods he built are still decorated to this day with portraits signed “Saint Pablo.” He did not come up with this nickname - this is how the drug lord was called by those to whom his good deeds gave him a chance for a better life.

New Horizons

Since both the financial and personal life of Pablo Escobar were quite successful, the enterprising young man began to look for new ways to realize his potential. He saw certain opportunities in the political sphere, and in 1982 the famous cocaine trafficker turned from a respected man, taking the position of deputy congressman. This gave an understanding of new opportunities; it turned out that the presidency was not so far away, and Pablo set out to rule the country. True, the reality was harsh - the Colombian capital of Bogota was full of rumors about Pabl as a drug dealer, villain and murderer. Of course, no one was happy about him.

New steps in the political field turned out to be not too simple. Many Colombian politicians were categorically against the appearance of such a person in their ranks. Rodrigo Bonilla launched a campaign against the use of funds obtained through drug trafficking in the election race. It was through his efforts that Pablo Escobar, nicknamed the “master of evil,” lost his seat as a congressman in 1984. This did not go in vain for the activist - on one of the northern streets of the capital, Rodrigo was shot in broad daylight shortly after Escobar left the political arena. It's no secret that the massacre was carried out by the people of the failed president.

Problem after problem

A dark streak begins in the biography of Pablo Escobar. American and Colombian authorities entered into cooperation, launching a joint program to combat the spread of narcotic substances. The drug lord responded by resorting to terrorist measures. Representatives of law enforcement agencies were killed, civilians protesting against the drug business were shot. The drug mafia switched to more stringent measures and began organizing explosions, the victims of which numbered in the hundreds. The drug lord tried to conclude a mutually beneficial agreement with representatives of government agencies, but was unsuccessful.

The drug dealer decided to go underground. Although Pablo Escobar's photo could be found on all the lists of wanted local criminals, he was very successful in hiding - they say that the drug lord simply had no equal in this. By the beginning of the last decade of the last century, the head of drug organized crime was one of the most actively wanted criminals in the drug trade by American services. Colombian authorities organized a special department, including the best of the best from the prosecutor's office and special services. The task of all these people was to track down, catch, and capture the drug lord, who was still considered elusive.

What's next?

As is known from the biography of Pablo Escobar, in 1991 the drug lord was finally arrested. It is difficult to call this the merit of the special services or other “hunters” assigned to him around the world. American authorities dropped the threat to extradite the criminal, after which he surrendered to the authorities on his own. The drug king was imprisoned in a special institution, La Catedral, built at his expense. However, it looked more like a sanatorium than a prison. Pablo spent only about a year in his forced stay. The reason for the escape was the news of an impending transfer to a real high-security prison. Upon his release, the former owner of the fearsome cartel found himself surrounded by traitors and enemies. From that moment until his death, he spent all his time on the run, forced to carefully take every new step, fearing to be seriously caught.

As you can learn from the biography of Pablo Escobar, the largest and strongest drug sales empire in former times began to disintegrate in 1993. It’s not surprising, because its creator was no longer interested in his brainchild, he had neither the strength, nor the time, nor the desire for it. . All Pablo wanted by this time was to meet his family, because he had not seen his family for more than a year. This passion turned out to be destructive for him.

About how it all ended

Pablo Escobar's death was escalated by his rash call to his family. This happened the day after his birthday, in 1993. Special services assigned to tracking were able to determine the location of the caller. It turned out that Escobar is in Medellin, in a shelter built in the Los Olivos quarter. The police immediately went to the scene, and soon the building was under the gun of a whole group of professionals. The police tried to take the building by storm, and El Limon, who at that moment served as Escobar’s bodyguard, fired back literally with all his might, but he was soon wounded.

Pablo Escobar's death was not simple. After wounding the bodyguard, the drug lord himself climbed out of the window and began shooting at the attackers, and then jumped out of the house in an attempt to escape. Sniper fire from the roof of a nearby building caused a leg wound, causing Escobar to fall, and the shooter immediately sent another bullet, hitting the fugitive in the back. The police ran up to the lying man, and a control shot was fired in the head.

Thus ended the entrepreneurial, mafia, financial, political and personal life of Pablo Escobar. The next day, December 3, 1993, the former drug dealer was buried. The killer and torturer, criminal and drug cartel owner was honored with a luxurious procession - more than 20,000 people came to mourn his fate.

So versatile

In numerous biographies of Pablo Escobar with photos published by various publications, one can see a wonderful young man, whose appearance immediately commands and inspires trust. The drug lord was a charming man, visually more like a singer. Even his photographs from the police station reflect the slyness of his eyes, from which wrinkles from frequent smiles radiate like rays of sunlight. This appearance did not go unnoticed; Pablo Escobar's wife chose him when she was very young, and was loved by him until the very last day of his life. She became the mother of two children, for whom the father was the center of the world.

Not everything is so simple. This owner of a lush mustache and curly dark hair, dark skin and magnificent eyebrows gave the very orders that resulted in the death of thousands and thousands of people. Thanks to his efforts, at some point Escobar's home country looked more like a military camp than a normal place to live. Pablo's funeral became a real performance - Colombians rushed to the coffin, cried loudly, fell exhausted - so great was their sadness over the death of Saint Pablo, who built houses for the poor, giving hope to everyone for equal opportunities in life.

And who will you become?

It is difficult to remember in the history of our civilization another such person who aroused such diverse and diverse opinions - it is not for nothing that interest in the biography of Pablo Escobar continues to this day. Photos of this man in his youth, middle age, photographs of his body, distributed throughout the world as evidence of the successful fight of the police against the criminal, still arouse the interest of readers from all over the world. He managed to leave a mark on history.

If we turn to American sources describing the biography of Pablo Escobar in a brief version, the drug lord can be described with the phrase: “He was larger than life.” This is exactly how the American military spoke about him, having unsuccessfully tried to gain the upper hand for so long. While some believe that he was real evil in the flesh, others never tire of comparing him to Robin Hood. It must be said that he himself was the first to draw parallels between himself and this fairy-tale character, but he also fully worked out what earned him such an image, having built many houses for those who could never afford to have their own roof over their heads. Those who lived in these houses did not even pay taxes - they had every chance to get back on their feet. Some say that Escobar was kind and virtuous, which is why he invested so much money in charity. There are also opponents to this opinion, convinced that in this way the drug lord bought the love of the people so that his cartel could prosper. Regardless of who is right (or both sides at once), today you can still see photographs of Escobar on family altars in many homes in Colombia.

Yesterday Today Tomorrow

As can be learned from the biographies of Pablo Escobar published in books, the drug lord was firmly convinced that in the future cocaine would become legal, and the trade in this narcotic drug would be legalized. Such a business, he thought, would lead Columbia to success and financial well-being. You didn’t have to look far for examples: the Kennedys, as you know, were descended from bootleggers and smugglers, and later a representative of this family took the presidency. Of course, the drug lord was to some extent a romantic and even a naive person. By the way, in the family archives, digitized and distributed around the world, there are photos of the owner of the largest drug cartel dressed in an Al Capone costume - this was his idol. Escobar admired Pancho Villa, and photographs depict Pablo in a manner befitting the Mexican revolutionary.

As is known from all sorts of published biographies, Juan Pablo Escobar was the only official son of a drug lord. He also had one wife throughout his life. But the Cocaine King did not have a penchant for overly virtuous behavior, and the number of mistresses of the cartel owner was estimated at approximately four hundred. It is believed that Escobar built a special town for them. They say that Maria was at first one of the girls in this town, but, having become pregnant, she became the wife of the “master of evil.” Others are sure that after the wedding, Escobar changed his habits and remained faithful to the chosen lady until his death.

Family and love

If you believe the stories of relatives, for Pablo Escobar, children were the center of life. When the dark streak began, for the drug lord it was his concerns about them that came first, and he ensured the safety of his wife, daughter and son, while putting himself in second place. They say that one day, while on the run, the head of the drug cartel decided to see the children at all costs, and chose a hideout high in the mountains for the meeting. It was a very cold night and a fire had to be built to warm the child. Having nothing more suitable, Escobar did not regret using money as fuel - two million American dollars burned that night in the literal sense of the word. Escobar himself said that for any thing in life you can find an alternative, but there is no and never will be an opportunity to replace children and wife.

It is also known that Escobar said that the dead have nothing to fear. The hardest thing for him was when the special services were literally hanging on their tail, there was no help from the cartel, there were only traitors around, and Pablo had been on the run for several months. The children featured in the biography of Pablo Escobar said that the last conversation, the one that cost their father his life, lasted only five minutes. The former drug lord had just turned 44 years old. It is known that at the time of his death he became perhaps the most photographed criminal. Almost all the intelligence officers participating in the operation wanted to photograph themselves against the backdrop of the body of the defeated drug dealer.

Numbers and emotions

According to Forbes, in 1989 Escobar was seventh on the list of the richest people in our civilization. At that time, his assets were valued at approximately $25 billion. It is worth noting that this money was paid in full not only during Pablo’s life or his death, but also through the ups and downs that befell relatives after the special operation in December 1993. The children were left without a father, then Juan Pablo Escobar was 14 years old, and his sister was only nine. To this day, both they and the drug lord's widow live under conditions of emotional pressure and public disapproval. These innocent people receive threats from strangers believed to be related to the drug lord's victims. But they have practically no money - the entire fortune of the cartel was confiscated, and the state authorities received it.

Only a few months passed after the death of the drug lord, when Maria and her children were forced to move to Mozambique - bullying and persecution did not allow them to live at home. It was not possible to stay in Mozambique; those who wanted revenge found the woman here too. Maria moves from country to country, and many states refuse her entry altogether. The woman has applied for political asylum more than once, and the only place where she was able to get help was Argentina.

About the wife: who was she?

Maria Viejo first met her future husband when she was a thirteen-year-old girl. Pablo at that moment was 24. The girl’s family categorically did not approve of such a relationship, which did not stop the young people - they decided to run away. To this day, debates continue about how faithful Pablo was to his lady love. Some say that his love affairs ended as soon as family life began, others believe that Maria regularly tolerated her husband’s infidelities, nevertheless, she stoically supported him in everything until his death. No one knew what was really happening, except the spouses themselves and their children - one can only guess and assume. Some, for example, believe that Maria valued only luxury, and only for this sake she agreed to be Pablo’s wife and put up with any of his antics.

After changing her place of residence to Argentina, the widow changed her name, and now her name is Maria Caballero. She lived for about five years in a small apartment in the capital of the country, life was no different from everyone else in the area. In the millennium, a woman and son were arrested and charged with forgery, money laundering, and illegal conspiracy. The assumption was as follows: once in Uruguay, the widow of the former drug lord met with former cartel members and received a decent amount of cash from them.

Mother and son spent 15 months in forced confinement in Argentina - which is more than Maria's husband spent his entire life. They were then released, admitting that there was not enough evidence of guilt for trial. Attempts were made to charge the woman and the boy with a series of crimes, and a team of highly qualified lawyers was involved in this. It is not surprising that they tried to attribute the illegal trade in narcotic drugs to Maria. However, gradually the authorities gave up: no facts or evidence were ever found.

Mafia child

Juan Pablo looks like his father in both name and appearance - and such conditions turned out to be not the best for starting a new life. After moving to Argentina, the boy changed his name to Juan Sebastian, but his identity remained an object of mystery for only a short time.

Son Pablo was born in 1977, when the family lived in Medellin. For him, his father was the center of the universe and the object of boundless love - he admits that he was always close to his parent, although he himself grew up as a pacifist who did not accept the cruelty and violent methods that the drug lord resorted to. Until the age of 13, Juan Pablo had no idea how and what his beloved parent did. It is noteworthy that in that very last five-minute conversation, which became the reason for the capture and death of the cartel owner, he told his son that he was ready to do anything for him - including surrendering to the authorities.

After moving with his mother to Argentina, Juan Pablo went to study, dreaming of becoming an architect. At first, his classmates had no idea who they were studying with, but this, along with relief, gave rise to a feeling of guilt in the young man. In 2009, the young man took part in the creation of the film “The Sins of My Father.” Also involved in the work were Maria and two victims of an organized crime group previously headed by Pablo. The young man, through the media, addressed all the victims and the people of Colombia, calling on them to forgive him for his father’s accomplishments. Today he lives in Buenos Aires, he has a family - a wife and daughter.

About my daughter

Manuela is a more mysterious person than her relatives. She successfully hid from the attention of society; there is almost no information about her. It is known what she was like during her father’s lifetime. The girl was born in 1984, on the sixth of October, her place of birth was the city of Brownsville. For the first nine years of her life, Manuela was pampered and loved, she was given maximum attention - she was the princess of the Cocaine King. It is known, for example, that one day a girl desired a unicorn, so her father bought a horse and ordered a cone-shaped horn to be attached to its head and wings sewn to its back. It all ended rather sadly: the wounds caused infection and death of the animal.

Having lost her father at the age of nine, and with him a quiet life, she found herself in a whirlpool of instability, amid an abundance of dangers. After moving to Argentina, she called herself Juana Manuela and carefully hid from the public eye. When the girl’s brother and mother were arrested on the millennium, nothing was known about the youngest person. Some believe that she lives in Buenos Aires today, but probably under a new name.

About parents

Abel, Pablo's father, died in 2001. The cause of death was pulmonary inflammation. Mother Ermilda died five years later. By this time she had already turned 89, and she was preparing for her ninetieth birthday. The cause of death was diabetes.

In total, there were seven children in the family where the most famous drug lord of our planet was born. Interestingly, Pablo was not the first of his relatives to choose a dangerous criminal career: his mother’s father was engaged in smuggling whiskey during the period of the prohibition of alcoholic beverages.

If not for his specific type of activity, Pablo Escobar could well have ended up in textbooks on personal growth as an ideal example of a self-made man - a person who achieved success thanks to entrepreneurship and hard work. He himself loved such stories: during one of his arrests, the police seized from him a Spanish translation of the American bestseller “The Power of Positive Thinking.” Pablo had a lot of positive thinking.

On December 1, 2016, Pablo Escobar would have turned 67 years old. A drug lord who lived a colorful life, the most famous Colombian (with the possible exception of Gabriel García Márquez), he died in 1993, losing the war that he himself declared on the government. Lenta.ru tells how from a poor man he turned into the richest citizen of Colombia, and then into the main enemy of the state.

"Mom, wait a little"

He was born into the family of a poor farmer, Jesus Dari Escobar, and a schoolteacher, Hemilda Gaviria, in the suburbs of Medellin. “My father always told me not to forget that we come from simple people,” said his son Juan Pablo. - He never expected anything from politicians. He said we need to help the poor and give them back their self-esteem.”

Pablo was one of seven children in the Escobar family, which lived in poverty. Once, a teacher kicked a future drug lord out of class because he came to school barefoot. There was no money in the house, and Hemilda stole shoes for her son from the store - but it was unsuccessful: the shoes turned out to be different sizes. Comforting his crying mother, Pablo promised: “Don’t cry, mom. Wait a little, I will grow up and give you everything you want.”

This idea - to grow up and get rich - became the main thing in Escobar's life. As his brother Roberto recalls, Pablo grew up as a withdrawn child, almost did not participate in games, and was always thinking about something of his own. Later, the future drug lord admitted that he made a promise to himself: if he did not earn a million pesos by the age of thirty, he would commit suicide. Pablo saw the terrible poverty in which people around him lived, and sought justice.

He could have become a socialist, but it was too dangerous. A civil war raged around - Violencia, which claimed the lives of 200 thousand people. When Pablo turned nine, the war was basically over. Those who wanted justice went to the jungle, and when young Escobar grew up, he had no one to join: socialists fought in the forests with weapons in their hands, and liberals and conservatives who started a civil war united in the ranks of the National Front.

Street legend

Escobar's path was shown by his mother's stories about his grandfather, the elusive Roberto Gaviria, who made a fortune smuggling whiskey. Pablo came up with his own concept of achieving social justice - through banditry, personifying resistance to a repressive society. The desire to escape poverty was perfectly combined with this concept.

Pablo dropped out of school and joined a street gang. He dreamed of becoming an ideal criminal, looked up to Al Capone and Don Corleone from The Godfather. He tried himself in everything - counterfeiting lottery tickets, selling contraband, stealing cars, robbery, trying to achieve perfection everywhere. He even stole monuments from cemeteries, removed inscriptions from them and resold them to inconsolable relatives. At the same time, he got used to smoking marijuana - Pablo believed that it helped him think.

At the age of 20, Pablo became a legend on the streets of Medellin. He robbed banks and stole cars, skillfully evading police raids. Young Escobar was cocky, confident, and always a step or two ahead of the police. The powerful charm of the young bandit attracted people to him. At some point, Pablo decided that it was easier to buy the police than to run from them. It turned out to be unexpectedly easy. Local authorities were a little more expensive. Escobar's motto was the phrase Plata about Plomo - “silver or lead”: take a bribe or get shot. Pablo did not spare bullets: anyone who did not want to follow orders or doubted his leadership risked playing the box. As Escobar later explained, fear turned out to be the cheapest and most effective PR strategy, allowing him to quickly create the desired reputation.

Pablo moved from car thefts to kidnappings for ransom. Regardless of whether they paid money for the prisoners or not, one end awaited them - a bullet. Escobar himself considered himself a fighter for justice: “In our country, only the poor are killed, and I democratized death.” Pablo's most famous action was the kidnapping and murder of tycoon-oligarch Diego Echavarria, who was hated by all of Medellin's poor: in his enterprises people worked in inhumane conditions for starvation wages, he threw hundreds of workers into the streets without severance pay, took away land from peasants, driving them into slums, and brutally dealt with those who tried to resist. Soon, the corpse of Echavarria, whose family paid a ransom of 50 thousand pesos, was found with signs of torture in a pit on the outskirts of Medellin. The next day, when Escobar left the house, everyone he met bowed to him or tried to shake his hand. Since then, as a sign of respect, he was called nothing more than “Dr. Escobar.” He was 22 years old.

People have gone crazy over white powder

Pablo made his fortune by smuggling cigarettes, whiskey and clothing, but his wealth grew slowly. He wanted more. When couriers returning from a regular flight to Panama reported that they were interested in whether there was cocaine in Colombia, Pablo did not immediately realize that this was his chance. But later, after making inquiries, he learned about the cocaine fever that had hit the United States: the white powder was snorted by casino players, lawyers of large corporations, doctors, bankers, and professors.

Pablo established contacts with Peruvian peasants in the Huallaga Valley, where coca was cheaper. He personally transported the first batches of the drug in a passenger car to Panama. Thus the foundation of Escobar's cocaine empire was laid. He either eliminated his competitors or forced them to join him, and quickly pinned down his rivals in the American market - the Cuban mafia. One of Pablo’s former rivals, who later became his comrade-in-arms, Jorge Ochoa, recalled: “To be honest, he intimidated us, like many others in Medellin, Cali and Bogota. Why, he intimidated all of Colombia and the entire United States. Whatever he wanted had to be done, and he didn’t care what others thought.”

Going into politics

Founded by Pablo Escobar in 1976, the Medellin Cartel has become the most powerful criminal organization in Latin American history. Strict discipline, merciless terror against apostates and traitors, and successful business decisions led to the fact that the cartel soon virtually monopolized cocaine exports to the States, controlling 80 percent of the entire world cocaine trade. Every day, 15 tons of cocaine were delivered to the United States by various routes, including on airplane chassis and submarines. At the peak of their power, Medellin bosses earned $60 million a day. In 1986, Forbes placed Pablo Escobar on the list of the richest people in the world - according to the most conservative estimates, his fortune grew by $30 billion annually. According to the recollections of his associates, he spent 2.5 thousand dollars a year on rubber bands for money rolls alone.

Pablo loved the luxurious life: he had 141 houses, 142 airplanes, 20 helicopters and 32 yachts. This wealth was guarded by specially trained and heavily armed militants. At the same time, Escobar did not forget about the poor: he built schools, hospitals, parks, stadiums, bridges and roads, opened churches and sponsored the distribution of free food.

Having become the richest man in the country, Pablo decided it was time to go into politics. Just then, Colombia entered into an agreement with the United States on the extradition of drug lords involved in the export of cocaine to the States, and this directly affected Escobar’s interests. “I would rather be in a grave in Colombia than in prison in the United States,” he once said. Pablo proposed to the government to repeal the law, promising in return to pay off the country's entire external debt - a measly 10 billion dollars, but was refused. There was nothing left but to act using political methods.

In 1982, Escobar triumphantly entered the Colombian Congress, supported by those poor people for whom he built schools and hospitals. At 32, he became a substitute congressman - that is, he received the right to vote in the absence of a deputy. Cocaine money, popularity among the people and connections at the top did their job: the farmer’s son seriously set his sights on the presidential post.

Strike and revenge

And then Pablo Escobar received a punch in the gut. Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla launched a campaign against him (as Escobar himself claimed, at the order of rival drug lords) and ensured that Pablo was expelled from Congress in disgrace. Escobar's political career was broken forever, and the presidency had to be forgotten.

Pablo is not used to losing. He responded with terror: his people shot Bonilla, special groups nicknamed “Los Extraditables” dealt with officials, journalists, and police officers throughout the country. Escobar even made contact with left-wing guerrillas, ensuring they captured the Palace of Justice in the capital. Tanks were brought into the city, and as a result of the bloodbath, about a hundred people died, including 11 of the most intractable judges. By the way, in the fire that happened, all the documents for the extradition of members of the Medellin cartel were burned.

The “complete and absolute war” declared by the cartel on the government lasted nine years. One by one, Colombian secret police officers liquidated or arrested Escobar's closest associates. In response, the bandits carried out terrorist attack after terrorist attack. Dozens of people were killed every day at the hands of cartel militants across the country. In August 1989, killers even shot presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, who promised to end the cocaine trade, and in November, Escobar’s people blew up a passenger plane in the air on which the future president Cesar Gaviria Trujillo was supposed to fly. All 110 people on board were killed, but Trujillo was not among them.

DIY prison

In 1990, Trujillo, who became president, invited the drug lords to surrender, promising not to extradite them to the United States. By that time, Escobar began to realize that he was losing the war: the army and intelligence services, rival drug cartels, CIA operatives and far-right militants had united against him. Relatives of those killed at the hands of his bandits created the organization “Los Pepes” - a “death squad” that killed everyone associated with Escobar. Pablo himself was hunted by a special search group, which selected the best of the best from the army and police.

And Pablo Escobar gave up. He pleaded guilty to a number of minor crimes, for which he was forgiven by everyone else. He built the prison for himself. A huge complex called “La Catedral”, located in the mountains near his native Medellin, looked more like a luxurious estate - with a bar, disco, swimming pool, sauna and football field. Escobar could receive any visitors he wanted, and he himself left the walls of La Catedral whenever he wanted and for as long as he wanted. The jailers were mainly engaged in protecting Escobar from those who wanted to deal with him. From prison, Pablo ran his cocaine empire, gave orders for reprisals against competitors, and even executed some himself.

A year later, the government's patience ran out, and President Trujillo ordered Escobar removed from La Catedral and placed in a real cell. Warned in time, the drug lord left the luxurious prison, and the war began again.

This time, however, it did not last long: in December 1993, intelligence services detected a call from Escobar to his son and calculated the location of the fugitive cartel leader. On December 2, the house where he was hiding was surrounded by special forces. Pablo Escobar fired back, then tried to escape through the roof, but was killed by a sniper. He was 44 years old.

25 thousand people gathered for Pablo Escobar's funeral. Some wanted to express their respect and gratitude to the drug lord for his concern for the poor. Someone mourned the “Colombian Robin Hood”, for whom popular rumor created the reputation of a kind-hearted fighter against the oligarchs (which is worth only the apocryphal story of how, hiding from his pursuers, he burned two million dollars in cash in a mountain cave to warm his sick daughter Manuela) . Someone came to say goodbye to the former boss, who at the end of his “career” was responsible for about four thousand lives.

Six years later, the remnants of the Medellin cartel were finally eliminated.

Pablo Emilio Escobar is a notorious Colombian drug lord and leader of one of the most powerful criminal organizations the world has ever seen. At the peak of power in the 1980s, he turned his drug cartel into a real empire, which terrified not only competitors, but also entire states, and its field of activity extended over the entire globe. According to contemporaries, Escobar made billions of dollars from drug trafficking, kidnappings and contract killings, and under his command was an army of soldiers recruited from hardened criminals and equipped no worse than many national armies of that time.

But despite his wide field of activity, Pablo Escobar still went down in history under the title “King of Cocaine” or, if closer to the original, “King of Coke.” So far, no one has managed to surpass him in the scale of cocaine trafficking. According to US intelligence agencies, more than 80% of the total volume of cocaine smuggling in the world was carried out by Escobar and his cartel. According to the full inventory, which was carried out after the collapse of the Medellin cocaine cartel and the elimination of its key players, the net value of all assets, as well as movable and immovable property, amounted to about $30 billion! And caches of money and jewelry hidden in houses that once belonged to Escobar are periodically discovered today.

Childhood and early years of the future “King of Coke”

Young Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on December 1, 1949 in the small Colombian town of Rionegro in the family of a modest peasant and a school teacher. According to the recollections of those who were familiar with this quite respectable family, young Pablito was an ambitious boy and dreamed of a political career, and he even told all his friends and family that he wanted to become president. However, the unenviable financial situation of the family obviously put an end to these endeavors, and the boy, despite his age, understood this very well. Driven by the desire for a better life, he followed the path of the legendary Colombian “banditos”, about whom numerous legends were then formed. This is how the criminal career of the future “King of Coke” began. Pablo Escobar made his first money by reselling tombstones stolen from local cemeteries. Finding this work too difficult and thankless, he soon moved on to petty street theft and car theft. Here the young criminal made his first important contacts, which helped him get a more serious job - smuggling contraband. Possessing an extraordinary mind and a natural commercial spirit, he quickly established a business and took a strong position in the smuggling cigarette market.

According to historians, it was this period of his life that became the very training ground that tempered Escobar and gave him the experience and skills for his further development as the future king of the drug mafia.

Medellin is the city where the career of the “King of Coke” began

Already by 1971, Escobar led a large gang, which was put together from people from the city of Medellin, where the future drug lord now spent most of his time. Along with smuggling cigarettes, they engaged in murders and kidnappings. So, in the same 1971, Escobar and his assistants kidnapped and killed one of the largest Colombian industrial magnates, Diego Echevario. Interestingly, the local residents, most of whom were poor peasants, expressed great gratitude to Escobar and gave him full support, despite the cruelty with which the crime was committed. He devoted himself entirely to expanding his smuggling business and taking over the local drug market, which was then controlled by the Chileans.

The Making of an Empire - Plata o Plomo

The next bright episode of his life occurred in 1976, when, on the orders of Escobar, the police officer and the judge who issued a warrant for his arrest were eliminated. This happened after he was caught smuggling almost 40 pounds (18 kg) of cocaine. Shortly before, a local drug lord named Fabio Restrepo was killed on Pablo's orders, and Escobar took his place, joining forces with three other influential drug traffickers and creating the famous Medellin cocaine cartel. According to the CIA, he took about 80% of the total cocaine turnover in the world, subjugating almost all competitors and imposing a 25-30% “tax” on them. At the same time, the cartel actually turned into a mini-state with its own intelligence service, armed forces, research laboratories, and even an air and submarine fleet. This was a unique phenomenon, since before Escobar no one had ever used submarines for systematic drug smuggling.

Young Escobar with his wife

Thus, by the beginning of the 80s, Pablo Escobar became perhaps the most influential person in Colombia, in fact having complete control over all government bodies, including local authorities, congress, police and courts. Thanks to this, despite the obvious criminal origin of his wealth, no official claims were made against Escobar.

Photo taken in one of the Medellin police stations, August 12, 1981

However, many simply had no choice, because, taking advantage of the weakness of the state machine, Escobar acted rudely and harshly, giving his victims an ultimatum: “Silver or lead” (“Plata o Plomo”). Simply put, those who did not want to take money and provide assistance died a difficult and painful death. Soon there were practically no people left willing to resist. In 1982, Escobar was elected to the Colombian Congress. Since then, he has actually concentrated economic, criminal and political power in the country in his hands, almost realizing his childhood dream.

Going underground and the Great Terror

However, Escobar's triumph did not last long. By January 1984, Justice Minister Rodrigo Bonia managed to expel the odious congressman from parliament, and then Escobar, who had been deprived of a significant amount of political power and, most importantly, the dream of the presidency, organized large-scale terror to show who the real master of Colombia was. . The first step was to eliminate the main culprit in Escobar's exclusion from politics - Rodrigo Bonia, who was shot in his car. After this event, the failed politician and part-time bloodiest gangster in Colombia was placed on the “Most wanted” list, and the police received an official warrant for his arrest.

Once underground, Escobar was no longer shy in choosing methods to counter his opponents and began to openly support the terrorist group Los Extraditables. Over the next two years, they managed to send to the next world more than five hundred police officers alone, while the total number of victims was in the thousands. Their number included both competitors and public figures, journalists and everyone else who dared to stand in the way of the drug mafia.

The point of no return and the decline of the empire

By this time, the cartel’s excesses began to plague not only the Colombians, but also their closest neighbors, and the scale of Escobar’s activities caused concern even in the United States, which was literally flooded with cheap cocaine from Colombia. The administration of President Reagan acted decisively and an agreement on cooperation and joint fight against drugs was quickly signed between the two countries, which had one important point - all caught drug lords must be extradited to the United States to serve their sentences there. At first, corrupt and intimidated officials, under pressure from bandits, tried to push a law banning this treaty through the Supreme Court, but Colombian President Vergilio Barco vetoed it, and the all-out fight against the drug cartels was continued with renewed vigor. As a result of this, Escobar lost his right hand man, Carlos Lehder, and several other loyal assistants. The Medellin cocaine cartel suffered significant damage, and the drug lord's revenge for this turned out to be truly terrible.

Pablo Escobar with his son in front of the White House

After an unsuccessful attempt to conclude a truce with the country's authorities in exchange for guarantees of non-extradition to the United States, Escobar ordered his hitmen to execute politician Luis Galan, who demanded that the government take even tougher measures against drug cartels, Chief Justice Carlos Valencia and police colonel Voldemar Contero. Between 16 and 18 August 1989, all three were killed.

But this was not enough for Escobar. Reveling in his power and impunity, he, with the help of Los Extraditables, carried out 7 terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 37 people (about 400 more people were maimed). Next (November 27, 1989), on the orders of Escobar, a plane with more than a hundred passengers on board was blown up. And although the drug lord’s main target was Cesar Trujillo, the future president of Colombia (by coincidence, he never flew on this flight), this method was chosen deliberately to create even more fear in the Colombian government and force it to make a deal.

A week later, Escobar's hitmen made an attempt on the life of secret police chief Miguel Marquez. The method of murder was also chosen to be as bloody as possible - bombing. As a result, 62 people were killed and about a hundred were injured. But by doing this, Escobar caused a completely opposite effect - if before these events there were still many people in the corridors of power who wanted to come to an agreement, then after that he was already considered a dangerous terrorist and a real raid was launched on him.

As a result of just one of the operations, the government confiscated nearly a thousand mansions and farms, 710 cars, 367 planes, 73 boats and more than 1,200 weapons. A large consignment of cocaine weighing 4.7 tons, already being prepared for sale, was also seized.

But, according to historians, Escobar made one of his most unforgivable mistakes later, when he began to compensate for losses, trying to impose a huge tribute on the cartels under his control and take away the share of competitors, mercilessly exterminating them. If initially Escobar’s “tax” was 25–30%, he tried to increase it to 65–70%, losing many loyal allies.

Rare photograph of the smiling "King of Coke"

The final nail in the coffin of the empire of the “cocaine king” was driven by the war with the Cali drug cartel. Escobar tried to behead him, killing one of the leaders. But the killer failed to cope with the task, and in response, the “Cali” cartel dealt with Escobar’s cousin, Gustavo Gaviria. The cartel war that followed these events, although it claimed the lives of many innocent people, weakened the groups so much that Escobar found himself practically pinned against the wall and was forced to surrender.

La Catedral - Escobar's last hope

One can only guess how much money was entered into the right offices, but Pablo Escobar's lawyers managed to do the impossible. The fugitive, surrounded on all sides, not only was not killed during detention or executed by his competitors (after recent events, many of them dreamed of trying on a “Colombian tie” on Escobar), but also surrendered on his own terms, having negotiated a ban on extradition to the United States from the Colombian government . In 1991, he was solemnly escorted to the La Catedral prison, which was built by him and, in fact, was a luxurious and well-fortified castle.

Inside La Catedral there were gardens and decorative waterfalls, and the “prisoner” spent his free time in casinos, spa centers, bars and a nightclub, which were located right on the prison grounds. However, if he wanted, Escobar could easily go to the city if he wanted to attend a cinema or a football match. He also retained most of his “business” by conducting telephone negotiations through reliable people.

Moreover, having accumulated strength, Escobar even continued to attack competitors and insufficiently loyal partners. The most intractable were brought to him at La Catedral, where he personally tortured the unfortunates in specially equipped torture chambers. Moreover, according to the agreement, neither the police nor the army had the right to even approach the prison territory.

Escobar's fatal mistake, escape and death

If Escobar had shown a little more foresight, he had every chance of becoming the so-called eminence grise and reaching a whole new level. His money and connections were more than enough to partially bring his “business” out of the shadows, creating a cover for it in the form of legal companies engaged in the production of various kinds of goods. This is exactly what Escobar’s wiser and less greedy and arrogant competitors did. The latter was accustomed to absolute power and did not want to part with it, which ultimately led to his death.

Having learned that the situation in Colombia had not changed at all, and that the drug lord who had caused so much trouble was continuing his business on the same scale, the US government was furious and put hard pressure on the President of Colombia, demanding that the criminal be immediately extradited to the United States. And on July 22, 1992, such an order was issued. But Escobar was already aware of this and calmly left his “prison”, hiding in one of the newly acquired mansions. An unprecedented sum of $10 million was placed on his head at that time. Even the president of the country would have to work at least two centuries to earn that much money.

Despite the fact that Pablo Escobar was again in a state of siege, now his affairs were not so bad. And although he again incurred the wrath of the government, lost the support of a significant part of his allies and stirred up old grievances of his competitors, he had one important advantage - the absolute support of the ordinary population, which Escobar generously “fed” for many years. Therefore, he had no problems finding new workers and fighters for his personal army. But the “cocaine king” finally lost it too, having made the mistaken decision to repeat the great terror of the late 80s.

Thinking that he would again be able to intimidate the government and persuade it to cooperate, Pablo Escobar again began a merciless massacre. On January 30, 1993, he organized an explosion in Bogota, which killed more than two dozen people and seriously injured more than 70. And, worst of all, most of the victims were parents with children from ordinary working families. This terrorist attack completely ruined Escobar’s reputation and deprived him of the support of the poor class, and the title “King of Coke” was replaced by a less euphonious one - “Child Killer.” From that moment on, the days of the greatest of drug lords were numbered.

In addition to the police, competitors and embittered former associates, Escobar began to be threatened by a new enemy - the Los Pepes organization. If we translate this abbreviation name literally, it sounds like “people who suffered from Pablo Escobar.” Considering that due to the bloodthirstiness of the main boss of the Medellin drug cartel, more than 10 thousand people lost their lives, there were a lot of them. Each of the victims had relatives, friends and relatives who now thirsted for revenge.

Literally the next day after the bloody event in Bogota, Los Pepes found the place where Pablo Escobar was hiding and burned his house to the ground. After this, all the drug lord’s relatives and friends, as well as his closest associates, became the target of the hunt. Moreover, unlike the police, Los Pepes acted very cruelly, terrifying the bandits.

Participants in the raid on Escobar next to his body, December 2, 1993

The denouement came on December 2, 1993. The former “Cocaine King” and now the “Child Killer” was blocked in one of the houses in the Los Olibos quarter by joint teams of Colombian security forces, local police, Los Pepes and American agents from the NSA. The drug lord and his bodyguard still tried to shoot back, but this time the forces were unequal. Trying to escape, Escobar climbed onto the roof and was shot by a sniper.

The Escobar phenomenon

How did the famous drug lord, who in his cruelty could easily be compared with many bloodthirsty dictators of the 20th century, manage to remain free for so long, enjoying unprecedented support from the majority of the population? Historians believe that this phenomenon is associated with the exceptional talent for manipulation that Escobar possessed. He had a good feel for the socio-political situation that reigned in Colombia at that time and relied on the widest layer of the population - poor workers and farmers who were fleeced to the skin by commercial and industrial magnates and corrupt officials.

Escobar tried to create for himself the image of a “Colombian Robin Hood,” or the canonical “banditos” from urban legends, who robs the rich and gives gifts to the poor. He coped with this task brilliantly, buying the love of people in Medellin for many years. During this time, millions of dollars were spent on building parks, schools, sports stadiums, churches and even housing for the poor. His strategy worked and provided him with an endless supply of loyal servants, but only until the moment when he betrayed them too, making these people victims of his terror against the state.

The only ones to whom Escobar remained faithful until the very end were his wife Maria Victoria and children. He was always very kind and affectionate with them, trying to protect them from any dangers associated with his “profession.” According to the drug lord's son, Juan Pablo, one day he and his father had to flee home in a hurry to escape government agents and hide in the highlands for some time. Then, without much regret, he burned $2 million to light the fire and prepare hot food for those who were freezing.

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