Pablo Escobar

After finding the Pablo Escobar tour so interesting, I thought that I had to write down some of the stuff that we were told on the tour. As his id document states, he was born on December 1st 1949 with the name Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, Gaviria being his mothers maiden name. This aided him in later life when he was able to go under two seperate names depending on the company he was in, Pablo Escobar or Emilio Gaviria, he was also known affectionately by the people of Medellin as The Doctor, as anyone with money must be a doctor. He was thrown out of school at the age of 14 when he was caught with a stolen answer paper for which he was selling the answers to the exam to his classmates. When asked in school what he wanted to be when he grew up, Pablo always answered that he wanted to be a millionaire, not an astronaut or sports star like his classmates would say. His first flirtation with criminal activity was with his cousin, Gustavo, when they sold hash on the streets along with contraband cigarettes and other goods. In order to make a bit more money, Pablo and Gustavo would steal gravestones from cemeteries, sand down the face of them and resell them as new. They later stole cars and broke them down to resell the parts. Pablo Escobars first job in the world or cocaine was to work as a fly for one of the Medellin drug barons. That is, Escobar was sent ahead of the travelling coke and charged with paying off any roadblocks or police that he encountered along the way, "theres five cars about to drive past here but you didnt see any five cars" was how our guide put it. From here he gradually worked his way up through the world of cocaine, showing leadership and a willingness to try new ways to get the white powder past security and into new markets, particulary the States. At this time, cocoa was not being grown in Colombia so the paste had to be bought from neighbouring Peru and converted to cocaine in labs in Medellin. Escobar quickly made himself into the millionaire that he had always wanted to be. He flew plane loads of cocaine into neighbouring Panama with it making its way to the US from there. He was so vein, that after purchasing a whole flights worth of aircraft, he derommissioned the very first airplane that he had used and hung it above the gateway to his hacienda. He was also a bit of a joker although his sense of humour may not have been appreciated by all. After being declined acceptance by the most prestigious club in Medellin, he built himself an apartment building for his family right across the road. He declared that if they woudlnt let him into the club, then they would have to watch him sitting on the top of his apartment terrace everyday. Another joke that he played was that all of the buildings he had constructed were built in white whilst the rest of Medellin is built in red brick. This was meant to represent the cocaine money that was in fact building all these consytuctions. He was seen by some as a hero of the poor as he originally used the money to build malls, hospitals, schools, libraries and other public buildings as well as "cleaning" the money building apartments for sale. He also ran for office and was elected into government with his intention of making coke legal in Colombia. I find this part strange as surely legal coke would mean less money for him, sure it would make his life easier so perhaps that was his incentive. At the height of his wealth he offered to pay off Colombias entire debt to America which stod somewhere around $20bUSD. Now considering that Bill Gates is worth a mere $36b more or less now that shows you how rich this guy must have been in the late 1980s. This was also a joke for him as all of his money came from the coke users in the States so it would be like Americans paying off their own debt. The government refused to accept some of his demands however. It is also thought that at the height of his power Escobar had over 500,000 men working directly for him and over 2m (that may be incorrect) working indirectly for him in casinos, bars, malls and the rest. In the late 1980s and early 90s the drug wars began between the Medellin Cartel and the Cali Cartel. Numerous car bombs were used in attempts to wipe out key figures in both cartels with Escobars apartment building targeted, he rebuilt the apartment but never lived there again. Another building of his was targeted and despite leaving the building in disrepute, Escobar had all the surrounding houses rebuilt along with the road in front in a matter of days. This war was on him and not the people he said. He wasnt all good guy though and retaliated with numerous car bombs of his own in both Cali and Bogota. He also had a bomb planted on a plane of 170 people to kill one of the leaders of the Cali cartel. The bomb went off killing everyone on the plane. The Cali leader wasnt on it. Another example of his natiness was that he would award $1,000USD to his hitmen every time they shot dead a police officer. And of course not everybody liked Escobar and soon hatred towards the man grew into a radical movement known as the PPPs, it doesnt quite translate but its basically people who hate Pablo. This included anyone and everyone could be a member as long as you hated Escobar. Police, government officials, military, people like you and me could all be members of the PPPs. As well as the PPPs there had also been a seperate military force set up previous to deal with the problem of the drugs trade. Para is Spanish for, for and so they were known as the Paramilitars. This amount of hatred and violence turned the country upside down with everybody killing each other and many innocents getting sadly caught in the crossfire. There is stories of Police killing young children simply to provoke the cartels and get a response from them and vice a versa. In order to aid his cartel in the war, Escobar would bring in ex German and Russian military and run schools and classes in order for his men to learn about bombs and artillary All this while Escobar was still moving drugs into the States through new means, he even purchased himself a submarine which could be docked off the coast of Miami and loaded and unloaded by speedboat. It cost apparently $3m so another example of this dudes wealth. One of the funniest stories about Pablo Escobar was that in the early 1990s he came under severe pressure from the Colombian politicians, all of whom he "owned" anyway, to spend some time in jail to appease the US. Pablo agreed to spending the short time in jail, around a 5 year term, but only if he could do it in his own prison. The authorities agreed and so high in the mountains around Medellin, Escobar built himself a jail! Only it wasnt really a jail, it was only himself and his bodyguards inside and all the security for the jail was screened in his own luxury bedroom. He had a pool, football pitch and even a helipad available for himself. After about a year in the jail a crack squad of Colombians and Americans arrived to arrest him proper however knowing that they were coming, he merely slipped out a side door and went on the run for the next year. After dodging everybody for a year, Escobar was finally caught up with. There is various stories surrounding his death but heres what the people believe. On 1st Dec 1993 Escobar was celebrating his 44th birthday when he dropped the champagne glass he was holding. It did not smash and he declared this as good luck, his bodyguard however felt the opposite and said that it was only good luck should it smash. Escobar told him to shut up and just enjoy his birthday. Nobody had got them yet afterall. Escobar was always very careful when on the phone and never spoke for longer than 2 mins, meaning the police could never track him down. On the 2nd of December however he was on the phone to his son for an extended period of time and therefore was able to be pinpointed in his Aunties house in a quiet barrio of Medellin. Earlier that day, Escobars cousin Gustavos son, also Gustavo had been assasinated by the PPPs and so the people of Medellin believe that the PPPs also got Escobar. However photo evidence and the word of the United States authorities would suggest that a team of CIA agents and Colombian military were in fact those who killed Pablo. At 3pm on the 2nd Dec, one day after declaring good luck for himself, the house Pablo was hiding in was attacked by a wave of gunfire. Pablo and the guard returned fire. Escobar then made a dash to escape out of a bedroom window which is no longer there. He was caught and again whilst the authorities claim they shot the deadly bullet, many believe that Escobar took his own life, shooting himself through the throat. It was known that he carried in his ring a toxen that would kill upon digestion so this theory sounds plausable. The cemetary in which Escobar is buried is for any who have the money to be buried there. Its not very fancy and all the gravestones lie horizontal on the ground, all except from Pablos his is at an angle. It is the second most visited grave in South America after Evitas in Buenos Aires and that, from me is the story of Pablo Escobar. Think of him as you will but I believe that despite all his good doing for the poor, which apparently came from the heart in the beginning, this guy was one nasty piece of work with very few morals and a cold heart.