Pablo Escobar: Narcoterrorist, Family Man or Robinhood

 

Mountains of Colombian cocaine define the life and times of Pablo Escobar. From small-time Medellin man to ‘Most Wanted’ in just a few short years, the affable Robin Hood of the poor is the key character in the blockbuster Netflix series, Narcos.

But, what do we really know about Pablo Escobar? Was he a family man, a ruthless drug smuggler or a prince who gave back to the communities that shaped his short and eventful life?

Let’s take a look at a few fascinating facts about a character who, A Narcos series is driving the enormous popularity of the Netflix TV streaming brand.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaβ̞lo eˈmiljo eskoˈβ̞aɾ ɣ̞aˈβ̞iɾja]; 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist. His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income.He was often called "The King of Cocaine" and was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s (equivalent to about $56 billion as of 2017), making him one of the richest men in the world in his prime.

Escobar was born in Rionegro, Colombia and grew up in nearby Medellín. He studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellin but left without a degree; he began to engage in criminal activity that involved selling contraband cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, and he participated in motor vehicle theft. In the 1970s, he began to work for various contraband smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom before beginning to distribute powder cocaine himself, as well as establishing the first smuggling routes into the United States in 1975. His infiltration to the drug market of the U.S. expanded exponentially due to the rising demand for cocaine and, by the 1980s, it was estimated that 70 to 80 tons of cocaine were being shipped from Colombia to the U.S. monthly. His drug network was commonly known as the Medellín Cartel, which often competed with rival cartels domestically and abroad, resulting in massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians.

In 1982, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia as part of the Liberal Alternativemovement. Through this, he was responsible for the construction of houses and football fields in western Colombia, which gained him notable popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. However, Colombia became the murder capital of the world, and Escobar was vilified by the Colombian and American governments. In 1993, Escobar was shot and killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, one day after his 44th birthday.

From Small Time Crook to El Patrón

Escobar had a dream. He wanted to be a dollar millionaire by the time he was 22. Although he came from a reputable middle-class family, he soon realised the only way to ‘cash in quick’ was to opt for a life of crime. His first foray into the murky underworld was pretty ‘grave’. The young man actually pilfered tombstones from the cemetery, sanded the names of the deceased from the marble and sold the grave markers on.

Fun Facts About Pablo Escobar: Drug Smuggler Extraordinaire!

Medellín was of course home to the most legendary cartel kingpin of all time – Pablo Escobar.

Thanks to the hit Netflix series Narcos, we’re all aware of his excessive & indulgent life but here are my top 10 truths; facts I learnt about him whilst in his hometown:

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• In his hey-day he was earning a staggering $60M per day
• Forbes once ranked him the 7th Richest Man In The World
• All his properties were painted white to represent his product
• He never dabbled in cocaine but often smoked cannabis
• He had a Colombian footballer killed because he scored an own goal
• His cartel would spend +$2,000 every month on rubber bands to hold the money
• Whilst on the run from the CIA, he once burnt $1M to make a fire to keep his daughter warm
• His Medellín cartel was responsible for over 80% of the cocaine trade to the US
• In an attempt not to get extradited, Escobar offered to pay off Colombia’s national debt – a cool $10 billion.
• He built a zoo on his Hacienda Napoles estate complete with elephants, hippos and giraffes. One hippo once escaped!

There’s an abundance of articles online about Escobar’s crazy world but if you really want to understand the impact of his legacy on the community today, you need to visit Medellín in person.
Aside from being an incredibly vibrant and safe city nestled in a quaint mountainous valley, it’s fascinating to see that his legacy is still well and truly alive despite being killed over 23 years ago.

A polarized character
To this day there is still a real love/hate divide for Escobar from the ‘paisas’ (locals from Medellín ). For many he was an egotistical maniac who littered streets across the world with cocaine. A guy who terrorised Medellín throughout the 80’s and sole-handily tarnished Colombia’s reputation to the outside world. A reputation they are still desperately seeking to shake. Emotions are still riding high over 20 years on.What striked me the most however was that for others, Escobar was and still is a modern day Robin Hood; a guy who looked after the lower-class by taking from the rich and feeding the poor.In this case, the rich were the US who, at the time, were the biggest consumers of his ‘product’. Whilst I don’t condone what he did, I saw this satirical poster in a local bar which did raise a valid point.

Before becoming a drug kingpin, Escobar sold stolen cars and tombstones to smugglers.

After becoming the reigning lord of Medellin Cartel, Escobar was minting as much as $420 million a week!

At one point, Escobar's had amassed so much wealth that it reached 30 billiondollars!

The man had so much money that he spent $2500 a month just on rubber bands to bind his money together.

Once in hiding, Escobar even burnt 2 million dollars to keep his daughter from catching cold.

                                 

So great was his fear of extradition that Escobar offered to pay off Colombian government's debt that had reached a massive 10 billion dollars!

As per an agreement with the Colombian government, Escobar built a luxury prison called 'La Catedral' that was guarded by his own loyal servants. The terms dictated Escobar to serve prison time (which he did) and the Colombian government to not extradite him to the US. The prison was anything unlike any jail. A thriving casino, spa and nightclub from inside, La Catedral became the hub of more drug deals and murders.

And this horror included killing 4000 people that included murdering 200 judges, 1000 policemen, journalists and government workers.

Escobar was shot dead in 1993 by a special police force after being on the run for 7 months. The man who raised an empire so big that it instilled fear among the living, a brutal end seemed a befitting epilogue to his powerful narrative.

    

By the end of his tenure as ‘King of Coke’, Pablo Escobar was the proud owner of a drug touting transport and logistics company comprising two submarines, six helicopters and 15 aeroplanes, all fitted out with secret panels and hidey holes. He even went as far as buying his own Caribbean island near the Bahamas to act as a depot and snarf-laden springboard into the United States.

Pablo Escobar will go down in history as a colorful character who realised an impossible dream… but at what cost to the victims who dared to cross his path.

Source:- Google, Wikipedia, tucantravel, royalvegascasino, Indiatimes, the chesqui

His life would not be about drug routes and murders, he became an architect, industrial designer and writer in Buenos Aires. Remaining silent about his father, but always thinking about him and the two si