How did the story of Pablo Escobar end? Pablo Escobar - the most famous drug lord in history

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria is the most famous drug lord and terrorist from Colombia. He entered the world history textbooks as the most brutal criminal of the twentieth century. He was born on December 1, 1949 in a small town called Rionegro, and on December 2, 1993 he was killed in Bogota (in the Los Olibos area).
Escobar earned an incredible fortune from selling cocaine; in 1989, Forbes magazine included him in the list of the richest people on the planet. With a capital of $25 billion, he took seventh place in the ranking.
According to some estimates, in total the drug lord killed about 10 thousand people. Despite this, Escobar was considered a criminal with a code of honor: for example, in the largest city in Colombia after Bogota - Medellin - an entire quarter for the poor and more than ten football fields for children were built with his funds.

Childhood

Pablo Escobar was born in 1949 in the provincial town of Rionegro. For his peasant parents, he became the third child. The boy's father was a poor farmer, and his mother worked as a school teacher.
In his youth, Pablo could spend hours listening to stories about the famous Colombian criminals - “banditos”. Like Robin Hood, these people took money from the rich and gave it to the poor. Little Escobar immediately decided for himself that in the future he would become the same “banditos”. No one could have imagined that after just a quarter of a century these naive childhood dreams would come true.
h2 Start of criminal activity
Pablo studied in a poor school, among children from the same poor families. He and his classmates openly supported the Cuban Revolution - most of the children had left-wing political views. In high school, Escobar became interested in marijuana and began to show up less and less in class. At the age of 16 he was expelled. Freed from school duties, Pablo Escobar embarked on a criminal path.
Pablo spent all his free time in the criminal areas of Medellin - this city was considered the criminal capital of Colombia. Together with his friends, he organized a small business of stealing and reselling tombstones from local cemeteries. They soon moved on to more serious crimes - stealing luxury cars, which were then dismantled and sold for parts. Emboldened, Pablo Escobar even began offering car owners his patronage - those who refused to pay tribute to his group quickly lost their vehicles.

From hijacking and racketeering, Escobar gradually moved on to kidnapping and even murder. At the age of 21, Pablo gathered around him dozens of faithful assistants. Meanwhile, his gang's methods continued to become harsher and more disgusting.

El Patron

In 1971, when Escobar was 22 years old, his associates kidnapped a wealthy, disreputable landowner named Diego Echevario. They killed him after much torture and abuse. Local residents who worked for this industrialist perceived this act as heroism - they seriously hated Echevario. After this incident, among the poor he acquired the nickname “El Doctor” (in Spanish – “El Doctor”). Since then, Pablo Escobar began helping local poor people, spending his money to build inexpensive houses. He knew that in the future they would become a kind of human target between his gang and the state. Every day he became more popular.

Pablo Escobar's passport
Soon, Escobar's gang managed to intercept the production of cocaine from competitors from Chile. He was able to turn his trade into an incredibly successful business, with the help of which he earned a lot of money and became the biggest authority in the city. After some time, the activities of Pablo’s group expanded beyond Medellin. The daring El Doctor turned into the deadly "El Patron" (in Spanish - "El Patron") - the new nickname stuck with him until his death.

Cocaine business

Young hippies from America in the mid-1970s were already bored with marijuana. There was a need for a more powerful and effective drug - cocaine. El Patron built his criminal empire on its sale. Buying it from manufacturers, Escobar organized resale to smugglers for shipment to the States.

Still from the TV series Narcos. Pablo Escobar in front of a cocaine warehouse
With his animal cruelty, malice and tirelessness, El Pablo did not give his competitors a single chance to take a share of the drug trade market. As soon as Pablo learned about cases of criminal success among competition, he took away someone else’s business by force. Anyone who even indirectly tried to interfere with his activities went missing.
In just a few years of such aggressive business practices, Escobar's cartel began to run the entire drug trade in Colombia. Without El Patron's demand, it was impossible to start selling cocaine abroad, and for each batch sold, 35% of the profit went into his pocket.

Pablo Escobar had so much money that he did not have time to spend it - and he stopped perceiving the police and government power as a serious threat. So, in 1976, a drug lord was detained while attempting to illegally export a cocaine shipment. A couple of years later, the policeman who arrested him, along with the judge who issued the warrant for his arrest, were already dead.

Pablo Escobar's women

In 1974, when El Patron was 24 years old, he began dating a thirteen-year-old girl, Maria Victoria. To stop the girl’s parents’ attempts to separate them, Escobar moved with her to Palmyra. In the spring of 1976, they formalized their relationship. Soon the drug lord's wife (who was only 14 years old at that time) gave birth to a son, Juan Pablo. More than three years after this, the couple also had a daughter named Manuela.


Escobar with his wife and children
Throughout his life, Pablo Escobar had a huge number of mistresses. It is known that he was a pedophile - he especially liked to deflower underage girls. According to the most conservative estimates, El Patron had about four hundred women. For them, the drug lord had a real harem. Each of his passions (by the way, some of them were actresses, famous journalists, winners of beauty contests and popular fashion models) had a personal home with a unique design.
One of his most popular mistresses was the well-known journalist throughout Colombia, Virginia Vallejo. El Patron had a special connection with her - their romance lasted for five whole years (not every concubine of a crime boss managed to maintain interest in herself for so long). In 2007, she published an autobiography about her life with Pablo Escobar, which became a bestseller.

Medellin cartel

In mid-1977, Pablo Escobar, along with several other major drug traffickers in Colombia, teamed up to form the Medellin Cartel. Its head was, of course, El Patron. From that moment on, he owned the most powerful financial and cocaine empire in the whole world. To transport goods, the cartel used all possible means - even planes and submarines.
Pablo Escobar's authority has reached unprecedented heights. He easily bribed the police, courts, and officials. El Patron did not disdain blackmail. He was ready to do anything to achieve his goal,

Pablo Escobar's golden machine gun
Pablo spent part of his untold wealth on the construction of budget housing for the poor. The population reciprocated Escobar by electing him as a member of the National Congress of Colombia.

Not knowing where else to spend the money, Escobar bought everything he could get his hands on. His possessions included more than five hundred thousand hectares of land, more than thirty country residences, and forty antique cars. The main residence of El Patron had several dozen artificial lakes, six swimming pools and even a private airport.
In one of his estates (with an area of ​​approximately 20 thousand hectares), he organized the largest zoo on the entire continent. Colossal sums were spent on delivering exotic animals here!

Political career

In early 1982, Pablo became a member of the Colombian Parliament. He seriously planned to become the president of the country.
Escobar was prevented from implementing his bold political plans by the Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonia, who organized a large-scale campaign against the drug lord. As a result, in early 1984, El Patron was expelled from Congress. Of course, revenge on the minister was a matter of time.

Escobar with the local football team
At the end of April 1984, Bonia's car was machine-gunned in the middle of Bogota's busiest street. This was the first time such an important Colombian politician was assassinated.

Terrorism

After the assassination of the minister, Escobar founded the terrorist organization Los Extraditables (in Spanish - Los Extraditables). Its members attacked politicians and law enforcement officers - anyone who refused to cooperate with Escobar.
People hired by El Patron captured the Palace of Justice in the center of the country along with several hundred people. The army managed to eliminate the terrorists, but more than a hundred innocent citizens died.


Consequences of the explosions organized by Escobar
In 1986, the country's authorities launched a large-scale operation to search for Jorge Luis Ochoa, one of the leaders of the Medellin cartel, who was offering a reward of $4 million for the head of the American ambassador. Within ten days, more than two thousand people were arrested throughout the country, 2 tons of cocaine, 10 tons of cocaine paste, about 50 tons of coca leaves, and hundreds of tons of various weapons were confiscated.

After the assassination of the minister, Escobar hid in the shadows, but he still managed to unleash large-scale terrorist operations in Colombia. In less than a few years, about a thousand people suffered at the hands of his people - including judges, journalists and police officers who did not want to cooperate with the cartel. On his orders, a plane with 107 passengers on board was blown up - with this operation, El Patron hoped to kill Cesar Gaviria, who was elected president of the country, but by luck he was unable to fly on this flight.
In December 1989, police chief Miguel Marquez was attacked. As a result, 62 people died from the explosion, and more than a hundred people were seriously injured.

Detention

The American government became involved in the capture of the criminal, and on June 19, 1991, Escobar was forced to surrender to the authorities. He admitted his guilt to only a couple of crimes - and then only on the condition that his punishment would be commuted.
The deadliest terrorist on the planet ended up in a prison that he himself had built years earlier. It was called “La Catedral” (in Spanish – “La Catedral”) and was equipped no worse than a five-star hotel: on its territory there was a large swimming pool, a jacuzzi, a dance floor, a sauna and even a normal-size football field. The crime boss was constantly visited by friends, family and numerous lovers. Things reached the point of absurdity - Escobar could leave the prison at any time to visit brothels, restaurants and football matches.

"Prison" where Pablo Escobar was imprisoned
Despite his imprisonment, El Patron continued to lead the drug cartel. It is known that once drug dealers who were caught stealing his money were brought to his prison. For several hours he brutally tortured them - right in the correctional facility!

The death of Pablo Escobar - the end of the cocaine era

In July 1992, a drug lord escaped from prison. He behaved very carefully until December 1993, when he called his family and talked longer than expected. Thanks to this, the authorities were able to establish the location of Escobar.
Within an hour, his house was surrounded by law enforcement officers. Escobar didn’t even have time to come to his senses when they started knocking down the doors. Besides him, in the house there was his aunt and devoted assistant Alvaro, nicknamed Lemon (the police shot him first).
Climbing out the window, El Patron tried to escape from the police along the roofs of buildings. There he was shot - or he shot himself (the investigation was unable to establish the exact data). Law enforcement officers took the famous photo next to the corpse of the deceased crime boss - the photo of the bloody body with smiling police officers in the background appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Thus ended an entire era of El Patron's rule.
Pablo Escobar was buried in the Montesacro cemetery in Medellin.

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (1949-1993) earned an astronomical amount of money during his life, estimated at $30 billion in the early 90s (equivalent to $58 billion in 2014). But it was “dirty” money obtained from selling drugs. The criminal became rich, and millions of men and women, having lost their future, died in agony. But this did not bother the cruel Colombian. He killed all those who stood in his way. Judges, prosecutors, journalists died from the bullets of his accomplices, police stations and planes exploded. So how could such a monster appear on earth?

It should be noted that the monster was born into a completely normal family. It appeared in the city of Rionegro (Colombia) with the farmer Abel de Jesus dari Escobar and the school teacher Hermilda Gaviria. In addition to the monster, the family had 8 more children, and Pablo was the third child.

He began his criminal activities in the city of Medellin, which was a hotbed of crime. At first he stole and resold tombstones, then he began to steal expensive cars and dismantle them for parts. This was followed by racketeering, theft, kidnappings and murders. By the early 70s, he earned his first $100 thousand. Then he started producing cocaine and at the age of 22 became a millionaire.

But the real big money came only in 1977, when Escobar teamed up with 3 other major drug traffickers. They created the Medellin cocaine cartel. He came to control 80% of the world cocaine market. The cartel had its own laboratories, planes, ships, and submarines. The criminal organization entangled the whole of Colombia with its tentacles and paid bribes to many police officers, politicians and judges. And at the head of this sinister formation was the drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The criminal organization began to build cheap housing for the poor, and the people elected the main drug lord to the National Congress. The criminal himself built 28 estates for himself and personally owned about 400 thousand hectares of land. In addition, he was extremely loving and kept 300 mistresses. A special town was built for them, in which fashion models, actresses and simply beauties lived. Each such lady had her own house with all the amenities.

In the spring of 1982, our hero was elected to the House of Representatives of the Colombian Parliament. And after that, the powerful criminal began to dream of the presidency. However, there were principled and committed people to the law who confused all the cards. One of them was the Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonia. He got the drug dealer expelled from parliament. This happened in early 1984.

Already in April of the same year, Bonia was shot from machine guns on the street. The bullets literally blew his head off. This villainous murder outraged the entire progressive community of Colombia. They wanted to arrest the drug lord, but he went underground.

In 1986, Colombian authorities launched a large-scale operation to identify and arrest the leaders of the Medellin cartel. As a result of these actions, 2.5 thousand people belonging to the mafia group were arrested, 2 tons of cocaine, 10 aircraft, and several hundred weapons were confiscated. In 1987, one of the cartel bosses, Carlos Ledera, was tried in the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Pablo Escobar hid deep underground and unleashed terror throughout the country. As a result, hundreds of police officers, dozens of judges and journalists were killed. A plane with 107 passengers on board was even blown up.

The scale of terror reached such a scale that it forced the US authorities to intervene. The Americans did not spare money, and with their help, Colombian security forces began an offensive against the mafia. All legal property was confiscated from Escobar, and he responded with murders, arson and explosions. The police headquarters in Bogota was even blown up.

Money and weapons confiscated by police from drug lord Pablo Escobar

By June 1991, the drug lord was surrounded on all sides, and he surrendered to the Colombian authorities. He was sent to La Catedral prison, but it was more like a resort than a place of detention. It had a swimming pool, sauna, and jacuzzi. At the same time, the prisoner enjoyed complete freedom. Whenever he wanted, he left the prison and went to do his cocaine business. However, he went too far, giving the command to kill several people he disliked.

This caused violent public outrage, and the country's president gave the order to transfer the mafia leader to another prison. This happened in June 1992, and a couple of days later the dangerous criminal escaped. The authorities placed a reward of $10 million on his head, but there were no brave souls to tell about his whereabouts.

And the bloody drug lord Pablo Escobar organized a new terror of intimidation. In January 1993, an explosion occurred in Bogota on one of the streets. 21 people were killed and 70 were injured. These were peaceful people, among whom were children.

In opposition to the insidious criminal, an organization called “Los Pepes” was created. This acronym stood for "People Victims of Pablo Escobar." The very next day after the explosion in Bogota, members of this organization detonated a bomb in front of one of the houses belonging to the drug lord. The building burned to the ground. Members of the new organization acted harshly and decisively. They launched a real hunt for drug cartel members and their relatives. This behavior brought real fear to the drug mafia.

The corpse of Pablo Escobar, shot by police

However, the main mafioso was eliminated not by members of the organization, but by state security forces. On December 2, 1993, the richest and most famous criminal in the world was blocked in one of the houses in the Los Olibos quarter in the city of Medellin.

Pablo Escobar began to shoot back along with his bodyguard, and then tried to escape along the rooftops, but during the pursuit he was wounded in the leg and torso. However, it is still unclear who fired the shot in his head and under what circumstances. It is suspected that the drug lord tried to surrender, but someone from the national police shot him. However, these are just guesses and inventions of unscrupulous journalists. Everyone understands that if a person raises his hands, then the guardian of the law will no longer shoot at him under any circumstances.

Almost 25 thousand people gathered for the funeral of the once formidable mafioso. People reached out to the coffin to touch Escobar's face, because everyone wanted to become a part of the legend. This is how the richest and most famous criminal of human civilization ended his life.

It's hard to imagine life in the heart of a criminal empire in Colombia. However, quite recently, some 20-25 years back, city Medellin in Colombia was the most dangerous city on the planet. The city was given this status due to the fact that in those years the city was captured and was in power, expelled from the government, Pablo Escobar, a strange figure, but interesting from a historical point of view.

The life story of the world famous eccentric Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar a (full name: Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, years of life: December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) continues to attract the attention of many people around the world to this day. Much has already been written about him, and another feature film was shot in 2014 "Lost heaven" With Benicio Del Toro starring. This film does not reflect even half of the horror in which Colombians lived in those years.

Benicio Del Toro, Paradise Lost

During his lifetime, Pablo Escobar was an ambitious and cruel man. His deeds are followed by rivers of blood, which washed the city of Medellin and its surroundings for many years in a row. The Colombians who lived in Medellin in those years were simply afraid to live. The authorities were bribed by Escobar and worked for him, so ordinary Colombians had no protection from the terror perpetrated by the most bloodthirsty drug lord of our time. Nowadays, the city of Medellin no longer poses a great danger. Recently, more and more tourists can be seen on its streets. Russian emigrants also chose Medellin for its mild climate and convenient infrastructure.

You can find information on the Internet about excursions, which are now held in Medellin to the places of the odious drug lord. If you ask yourself, you can easily organize such an excursion yourself. So we decided to independently visit the most iconic places associated with the life of Pablo Escobar.

To begin with, I will say that we ourselves Colombians are not eager to remember and talk about Escobar, since many of them still remember the terrible time they had to endure and strive to forget it as soon as possible. This is understandable. It is probably even indecent to ask anyone in Colombia about Pablo Escobar and the horrors of those days, especially in Medellin. Of course, the years fly by, and much is gradually erased from memory. For young Colombians, all this is already part of history.

Sometimes it seems to me that in their desire to forget about the tyranny of the era of Pablo Escobar and his associates, Colombians have now gone too far. What I'm saying is that every week, from Wednesday to Sunday, the streets of Medellin are buzzing with the sounds of a fiesta. until 3 am. This was impossible to imagine in 80s of the XX century. Everyone seems to continue to rejoice in the Escobar regime that has sunk into the past, plunging into the abyss of endless fun. Medellin residents massively organize noisy parties in numerous restaurants and pubs in the city, forgetting, or simply not taking into account those who want to sleep at night. If it were not for the legislative ban on the operation of entertainment establishments until 3 hours nights in Colombia, they probably would have walked for days on end.

To me, this revelry is very similar to expression of joy that the hard times of the drug wars in Medellin led by Pablo Escobar are over. The remaining drug cartels have left the city and are hiding far away in the mountains and forests. Or maybe it's just a manifestation of another trait Colombian character- idleness and cheerful disposition. The first one that I clearly remember a trait of Colombians is that they are not obligatory. Promising, offering something and not delivering is the norm of communication in many Latin American countries, but in Colombia we encountered this feature many times. At first it’s annoying, but then you get used to it and don’t pay attention.

Echoes of that loud era of drug cartels from the time of Pablo Escobar, which still continue to operate in Colombia, can still be found today. So, at discos in the crowd of vacationers you can see people snorting white powder, and it is legally allowed to have some small dose of drugs with you, and there is no death penalty for this, as in some Asian countries.

So, we began our excursion into the history of Medellin of those times from the end of historical events - we decided to visit Cemetery Gardens of Montesacro (Cementerio Jardines Montesacro) in Medellin, since Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, his brother, parents and bodyguards who died with him are buried here.

The operation to search and detain Escobar was carried out jointly with American intelligence services and lasted more than a year. Pablo and his most devoted associates managed to hide from them for a long time. But one day he was identified by a phone call; he called his son the day after his 44th anniversary and made a serious mistake that cost him his life - he stayed on the line 5 minutes.

In one of the following posts I will write more about the place where Pablo Escobar was killed.

To get to the cemetery Cementerio Jarnines Montesacro in Medellin, you need to take the metro to the station Itagüí(on the blue line), and, without going over (pay attention here!) river Rio Medellin, use the pedestrian bridge to exit the metro.

Itagüi metro station On Google maps it is marked at a completely different place from where it actually is!

Metro station on Google maps Itagüí And Cementerio Jardines Montesacro are on different banks of the river Rio Medellin, and if you look at the Google map, you will see that the cemetery Montesacro Gardens and metro station Itagüí are very close to each other, and this is not true! In reality, it is quite far from the metro to the cemetery (about 2-3 km).

A Google Maps error could cost someone a visit to Escobar's grave if you decide to visit it yourself.

The real Itagüí metro station in Medellin is still on Google maps! It is not connected to any of the designated metro lines in the city, and is indicated on the map as Metro Estacion Itagüí. And the metro station itself Itagüí, and cemetery Montesacro Gardens are on the same bank of the river Rio Medellin.

Itagüí metro station is very close to the street Calle 50 in the place where Calle 50 goes across the river Rio Medellin.

So that you don't get lost, I give below detailed description of the route from Itagüí metro station to the Cementerio Jarnines Montesacro cemetery, where Pablo Escobar is buried.

So, we get out of the metro at the station Itagüí, we don’t cross the river, but walk along Calle 50 in the opposite direction from the river towards the street Autopista Del Sur(Freeway Sur, another name - Carrera 42) meters 200 .

At the crossroads and Calle 50 you'll see metal bridge through Autopista Del Sur (Carrera 42), this is a pedestrian bridge. If you were walking along Calle 50, then here you need to turn left and, better, cross the street, since there is a wide and convenient sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. Along the street Autopista Del Sur (Carrera 42) from the metro side Itagüí In some places there is no sidewalk at all, and you will have to walk along the side of the roadway with cars rushing along it at high speed. Therefore, let's move on. In addition, on the same side there will be the cemetery itself.

Without turning anywhere, we go straight all the time. On the street Autopista Del Sur (Carrera 42) There are some buses running, the routes of which we still haven’t figured out. The area here resembles an industrial zone, the streets are deserted, but there is a lot of traffic.

Minutes later 20 you will see a fenced area located on a hill. We reach a checkpoint with a gate, this is it entrance to the cemetery Cementerio Jarnines Montesacro.

There is a road leading up, and immediately from the fence to the right there are steps for pedestrians - this is where we need to go. We go up the steps, and the first thing we see is gray Chapel building.

Pablo Escobar's grave located near the walls of this Chapels at the cemetery Montesacro Gardens. To see the tomb of the self-proclaimed king Pablo Escobar, Capella you need to go completely around the right side. At the moment when we approached it, several Colombians were standing at the grave of the drug lord. Yes Yes! Colombians also come here to honor the memory of their hero. And it is true! For many Colombians who lived in Medellin during troubled times, Pablo Escobar was a true hero– he helped the poor, built schools and hospitals for them. Probably, the families of these people are grateful to the drug lord, and do not see him as the monster he appears to the whole world.

Escobar's grave modest, and in fact it is just a small tombstone on which his name, date of birth and date of death are engraved.
All.
There are no pretentious tombstone sculptures made of rare stone here.

Cemetery Gardens of Montesacro the place is quite well maintained and modern, it is positioned as ecological cemetery, which you can visit even with pets. The cemetery administration unobtrusively informs about this - small flags are installed throughout the cemetery encouraging people to come here with their pets, and in return they only ask to clean up their excrement.

And, of course, this cemetery is very different from most classical cemeteries in Latin America.

If we move counterclockwise from the Chapel with the tomb of Pablo Escobar, then the next thing we will see is Columbarium building.

You can go there and walk along the rows along which small openings are built into the walls, where there are urns with the ashes of the deceased citizens of Medellin.

Inside the Columbarium, a security guard prohibited taking photographs.

Next to the Columbarium, to the left of it, under a canopy there is a wooden sculpture Cristo De Los Andes (“Christ of the Andes”) work Jose Horacio Betancur.

This one again surname Betancur (Betancourt), with which we are familiar from Cuba. The surname Betancourt in Latin America belongs to a noble family. And in Cuba we stayed in the house Casa Particulares, whose owners also bear the surname Betancourt. The atmosphere in that house was somewhat different from other houses in Cuba. The behavior and the way the hostess behaved was similar to that of an aristocrat. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

At the cemetery Montesacro Gardens Harmony and grace reign. The bushes and grass on the lawns between the tombstones are neatly trimmed, and colorful butterflies flutter over the cemetery.

Even on a weekday in the heat of the day there are people here, but not so many that it is a problem. Fortunately, the size of the cemetery allows everyone to scatter to different corners.

A bit further - building of the Pantheon of Eternal Memory (Panteon de la Eterna Memoria), and behind it an ordinary residential building peeks out. It is unlikely that sufficiently wealthy people live in this house so close to the cemetery. It is calm and quiet, there is no dusty highway under the windows, and only a peaceful view opens from the windows of the apartments in this building.

Inside Pantheon I still managed to take a few photos. Here is vintage hearse, into which horses were once harnessed, and a coachman sitting somewhere up there with a mute face was taking his passenger on his last journey.

There are also not many people in the Pantheon. I mean, living people. Marble slabs along the walls are decorated with flowers brought by relatives and friends of the buried.

Maybe the residents of that residential building were specially moved here in order to constantly remind them of the frailty of existence? After all, on the other side of the house the windows overlook part of the cemetery Montesacro Gardens, called "Forest of Life" (Bosque de Vida). Any look from the windows of this residential building is a reminder of the perishability of existence that surrounds a person every moment of his life. It's fun, you can't say anything.

In this small, relatively new, as can be seen from the unsigned tombstones, garden Bosque de Vida, everyone can buy themselves a place for their final resting place.

Here at the cemetery there is a nice little service - you can choose in advance a shady place under the overgrown bushes of spathiphyllum (spathiphyllum), under an Indian mango tree, under bushes with blue-orange flowers.

Or, if you want, you can buy a plot of land with a gate that is completely fenced off with a stone wall and arrange it as you wish.

For example, like the courtyard of a house in London.

At the time of our visit to the cemetery Montesacro Gardens V March 2015, under "tree of life" growing in the middle of this wonderful garden Bosque de Vida, there are still many unsold places. And the fenced-off areas are still free in some places. Here and there in the park-cemetery there are such birds with a tuft, they quickly run between the graves and look like little dinosaurs looking for something to profit from.

Stands in the middle of the cemetery mass grave with the monument "People".

In total, we spent about an hour in the cemetery. 3 . Time seems to stop here, and you don’t feel that heavy and sad aura that I feel in cemeteries in Russia. Cemetery Gardens of Montesacro- it’s like an enterprise, a park in which people work who maintain cleanliness and order in their possessions. I wonder if they are funded by the state or if they are a completely commercial structure that pays for itself by selling small plots of land for future and eternal ownership? And if so, what other related services do they provide to their regular customers?

Back to the metro station Itagüí we took the same road that we went to the cemetery. We were caught by a little rain, the heat subsided a little.

I already wrote about this, but I will repeat it. In Colombia, it is not recommended to lean against the walls of buildings, fences and poles to the height of the human organs. This is due to the fact that Colombians do not hesitate to relieve themselves wherever they feel like it. I'm talking about commoners and ill-mannered people, if you look at them from the height of European civilization, people. My Colombian friends in Medellin, when asked about this massive Colombian phenomenon, shrugged their shoulders and replied that they had nothing like it in their country, and they had never seen anything like it. But I myself have personally seen more than once how a man walks down the street in the city, stops and begins to relieve himself, not paying any attention to passers-by and vehicles. In the old part of Medellin, it’s generally like that, it seems to me that the walls of the buildings have been absorbing urine for centuries– this can be seen from the unambiguous, sometimes fresh, stains on the walls and is felt from the persistent smell of urea. This happens during the day, in the evening, at any time of the day. The human body cannot relieve itself on a schedule. That's what I wanted and that's it! What to do? Turn to the tree or fence, unzip your fly and let the whole world rest. According to the mass of this phenomenon Colombia can only be compared with Guatemala, and other countries are not too far behind.

This time I caught one of these with a camera in my hands pisuna in Medellin on the street Carrera 42 in the middle of the day. We walked from the cemetery to the metro. Everything would be fine, but the warning sign standing nearby seems to hint that it doesn’t matter whether they are looking at him or not.

All in all, Colombia in this regard it also reminds me India, where poor and uneducated people are not embarrassed at all and relieve even greater need in crowded places. Well, I was impatient! What!? Should I shit my pants? Sometimes you travel like this in India by train, look out the window, enjoy the beauty of the local landscapes... And here you are! The picture changes abruptly, and you already see something else - men and women squatting in rows doing their job and looking at the train. And you are on them. And they are on the train. A strange sight.

Let's leave this topic, disgusting for Puritan society, and let's go to where the house where the father of Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar lived.

We took the metro to the station Aguacatala, and went up the hill along the road. The area here is quite decent and quiet.

At the intersection of streets Carrera 44 And Calle 15 Sur and there is a house that Escobar built for himself and his family.

Here he lived for some time, continuing to do his deeds, which terrified Medellin. After Escobar killed in 1993, the house was looted and is now in complete desolation. The Medellin authorities still don’t know what to do with this house, which is why it continues to deteriorate year after year.

Not seeing anyone, we decided to try to move the gate to get into the area and take some photos. Hearing the hysterical creaking of the gate, a security guard in uniform appeared from somewhere in the depths of the yard of the terrible house and said that entry into the territory was prohibited. We replied that we are from Russia and we are doing a report for , and that we would like to take a couple of closer pictures. The guard gave up without a fight and let us inside for 5 minutes.

This is the main entrance to Pablo Escobar's house.

Richly decorated for those times? Or did the richest man on the planet at that time simply have no taste?

In the lobby there are 3 elevator The ceilings are very low. Of course, there is no greatness in all this now. And did it exist?

It was not possible to wander around the house due to the time limit issued by the house guard, so inside I took another shot through the gap in the door leading to the next room. I don’t know what kind of strange room this is.

In general, the architecture of the building is of absolutely no interest. So, we checked into another Escobar place.

There is a huge dish antenna in the backyard of Escobar's house. There were no mobile phones in those years; the antenna could be used for satellite communications.

And in the basement of the house there is garage. Entering the garage is very inconvenient. You need to move in and out of it carefully because of the wall that stands directly opposite the entrance to the garage.

Pablo Escobar was a famous collector vintage cars, they were all here. Probably, some of the collection could have been preserved; this property rests somewhere in the backyard of one of Escobar’s admirers.

There is one in the yard of the house playground. One can imagine how the drug lord’s guards and other retinue whiled away the time, waiting for the villain’s next brilliant plans.

In the far corner of the yard stands an inconspicuous wooden structure. Now all that remains are ruins. From a distance you can see that the interior of this building is decorated with ceramic tiles.

Not to say that all this is chic, but on a grand scale. After all, in Colombia, some people still live in wooden and cardboard boxes, and the social gap between rich and poor Colombians is widening every year.

Well, since we are here in this part of the city, we at the same time decided to visit another attraction of Medellin - El Castillo Palace (Fortress). In general, there’s a lot to tell about how we walked around it for an hour 3 , I won't. Let me just say that we were pretty exhausted that day, since this area is located on the hills, and all this time we walked up and down in the sweltering heat and everything around El Castillo.

Ask for directions to El Castillo somehow there was no one, there were no passers-by along the way. Completely exhausted and tired, we finally found this palace El Castillo. It is located, as it were, in the center of a large wealthy park-like residential area, through which you cannot pass through, since the parks and squares near the houses are surrounded by fences with checkpoints, like at Pablo Escobar’s house.

Approaching the entrance of the fortress, we learned that El Castillo Museum closes in 20 minutes, paid entrance. We hung around the entrance for a bit, looked at the palace from afar and trudged towards the metro.

If it weren’t for random passers-by, we would still be wandering around this quarter again for an hour 3 . And this despite the presence of a map on which this entire huge residential area was marked with one green spot, which we initially mistook for a park. Of course, there is a park there too, but don’t ask how to get there.

In an elite, so to speak, area of ​​the city, in its very center, on the way to the metro we met cows grazing freely in a huge field surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

We hardly spoke the entire way back, since any muscle movement, even the tongue, seemed heavy and difficult. But at the house, when we arrived at our station Estadio, we unanimously decided to treat ourselves after such an intense walking tour that took up the whole day - in the supermarket EXITO we bought the famous Medellin Tres Leches cake (Three Milks), and soda!

And with such pleasure we killed half of them Tres Leches for two, washed down with sizzling bubbles that taste like Buratino. A traditional Colombian delicacy, cake. Tres Leches- This is a sponge cake generously soaked in sweet liquid cream, topped with a layer of condensed milk, covered with whipped cream, and a little chocolate with coffee powder. They say that it is in Medellin that it is recommended to try this dessert. Made!

I wanted to describe all the events of this week in one post, but the material turned out to be too voluminous, and the week turned out to be busy, and what a week.

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Pablo Escobar: Robin Hood of our time or the most brutal drug lord in human history?

Those who used cocaine in the 80s of the last century used Pablo Escobar's product in one way or another.
(From the documentary)

On December 1, 1949, the richest (later) billionaire criminal in history was born, Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, whose name has long been associated with drugs, in particular cocaine.

Pablo Escobar is awarded quite a few high-profile titles and titles, which he did not allow anyone to doubt for a second. Here are just a few of them: “legendary criminal”, “cocaine king”, “global drug dealer”, “world’s first billionaire criminal”, etc.

Youth years

Pablo Escobar grew from a petty bully to become the most influential and powerful drug lord in human history.
Escobar began his criminal activities as a teenager, in the slums of the village of Rio Negro, 27 kilometers from Medellin, the second most important Colombian city.
His mother was a teacher, and his father was a simple peasant. At a relatively young age, Pablo got involved with bad company, began stealing bicycles, and was involved in petty crimes.
Pablo Escobar made his first money from tombstones that he stole from the local cemetery. He erased existing inscriptions from them and then resold them.
Having realized the further futility of this type of activity and having lost all interest in it, young Escobar organized a criminal gang in which he and his associates were engaged in stealing cars for their subsequent sale for spare parts.

In March 1976, Pablo Escobar married his 15-year-old girlfriend, Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo, who had previously been in his circle. A month later their son Juan Pablo was born, and three and a half years later their daughter Manuella was born.




This is what Pablo Escobar's son Juan looks like now.

Founding of the cocaine cartel

Soon Pablo Escobar saw great prospects in the drug business, which later brought him billions of dollars in profit.
In 1977, Escobar and three major drug traffickers organized the famous and most powerful drug union that has ever existed - the Medellin cocaine cartel, which creates its own drug trafficking network, which even includes submarines and airplanes.
The lion's share of drugs was supplied to the United States. At that time (80s), the sale of 1 kg of cocaine brought the dealer up to $5,000 in net profit.
Escobar's cartel transported about 95 tons of powder a year to the United States, which meant about $3 billion in annual income for the cocaine king.
The drug lord owned his own cocaine production laboratories located in the jungles of Colombia, which he himself built to expand his drug empire.

Political activity


Quite quickly, the cocaine king realized the importance of political power for the development of his business, and in 1982 he was elected to the Colombian Congress as deputy representative of the Department of Antioquia. Thanks to this coincidence of circumstances, Pablo Escobar received parliamentary immunity and continued building his cocaine empire.
However, in 1984, despite all the advantages that politics gave him, Escobar decided to step away from political activity, realizing that it was easier to get what he needed by simply bribing “corrupt” Colombian officials and judges.

Colombian "Robin Hood" of our time

Escobar was very smart and understood that if he enlisted the support of the people (ordinary poor people, residents of his hometown of Medellin), this could serve as an excellent guarantee of safety and protection from the Colombian authorities, who were constantly hunting him.
The poor simply idolized Escobar because he helped the homeless - he built hospitals, churches, stadiums, schools, shelters for the helpless who were dying on the street, paved roads and built entire neighborhoods for the poor, which were popularly called “Pablo Escobar's Slums” .
Indeed, to some extent, the most brutal drug dealer in the history of mankind really helped the poor, which was a truly amazing phenomenon and invaluable concern for them, which is why they idolized him.

Drug lord's property

Escobar made an incredible fortune from the drug business; in 1989, Forbes magazine estimated the cocaine king's fortune at 30 billion (!) dollars.
Pablo Escobar had a ranch of 3,000 hectares, owned 34 estates and 40 rare Rolls-Royce cars. On the territory of the drug lord's estate there were 20 artificial lakes, 6 swimming pools, as well as a small private airport.

By order of Escobar, a personal zoo was equipped on the territory of his estate, in which there were 120 antelopes, 30 buffaloes, 3 elephants and 2 rhinoceroses, 6 hippopotamuses. There is still an interesting story about one hippopotamus Matilda, which continued after the death of the owner, Pablo Escobar.

Arrest of Pablo Escobar

In the 80s, many Colombians said this: “Now we have 4 powers - the President, Congress, the Supreme Court and Pablo Escobar.”
At that time, Escobar's drug cartel controlled 80% of the cocaine in the country.
However, after 12 supreme judges were killed on the orders of Pablo Escobar, in August 1989 the Colombian government declared a real war on the most brutal and powerful drug lord in human history.
Within a few months, the cocaine king felt the first significant blow to his hitherto untouchable business.
Almost all of the drug lord's property was confiscated, some of his accomplices were arrested, and Escobar himself was forced to flee.


During this period, he very rarely stayed in one place for more than a day or two, for fear of arrest by the Colombian government.
Escobar responded to government operations with even greater cruelty - he organized a bloody campaign of terror that lasted 5 months.
During this period, on the orders of Pablo Escobar, Luis Carlos Galana, one of the leading candidates for the presidency of Colombia, who promoted an ardent fight against drugs, was killed.

In November 1989, Escobar commits the worst crime of his entire criminal career: he orders the destruction of a commercial flight, resulting in the death of 107 people on board the plane.
In 1990, Pablo Escobar made a deal with the Colombian government: he would surrender and serve a short term in a convenient prison built especially for him in his hometown of Medellin. The government had to guarantee that it would not extradite him to the US authorities.

But this was just a trick of the drug lord, who did not even think of surrendering to the Colombian authorities. However, the government decided to carry out a demonstrative arrest of Escobar - just for show. The drug lord was placed in the La Catedral prison, specially built for him and resembling a luxurious estate.
The cocaine king's prison had all the necessary amenities. And even more: a disco, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi and a sauna, and in the courtyard a large football field where professional players came to play with Escobar himself. There was even a telescope so that Escobar could look at his daughter, who remained in the city, chatting with her on the phone. After some time in prison, the police discovered that while in prison, Escobar not only conducted business, but also continued to terrorize the authorities.

Death of the Cocaine King

By the early 90s, Pablo Escobar was considered one of the richest people on the planet. His fortune was estimated at at least $5 billion (according to official figures).
As a result of numerous terrorist attacks, the cocaine king and his gang killed more than 1,000 people: about 400 police officers, several dozen judges and politicians, and civilians.
Pablo Escobar went down in world history as the most daring, merciless and powerful drug lord of all times.

Death overtook the cocaine king on the roof of a suburban house on December 2, 1993, as a result of a shot in the head by a Colombian police sniper. At that time, Pablo Escobar had just turned 44 years old.

Kirill Aizetullin

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”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 broadest segment 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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