Pablo Emilio Escobar. Biography. 50 photos
Twenty-two years ago, in Colombia, the authorities, together with national special agents, neutralized the king of the drug business, Pablo Escobar.
Pablo Emilio Escobar became famous in the criminal world as an influential authority, went down in history as the most unprincipled and merciless criminal of that period. Cold-bloodedly cracking down on representatives of the law (prosecutors, journalists), destroying police departments, he arbitrarily tormented and tortured his victims.
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on December 1, 1949. In the town of Rionegro, in the family of an ordinary farm owner. He was the 3rd child of Hasus Dari Escobar and Hemilda Gaviria. The boy's mother was a simple school teacher.
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Escobar's "feats" in the 20th century covered almost all the territorial possessions of Colombia, and the whole world.
Despite all the cruelty and composure, for most Colombians, Pablo was a kind of Robin Hood. He became the epitome of Latin American dreams. Hispanics who fought him consider him a "great man"
All free hours, young Pablo was on the streets of the city. The poor quarters of Melellín were a natural hotbed of crime and vice.
Already at that time, young Escobar began to steal tombstones from the local cemetery. Erasing epitaphs from monuments, he sold them to speculators. The track record of acts replenished, drug trafficking, theft and fake lotteries
In the future, Pablo organized a gang that steals prestigious and expensive cars. For the purpose of reselling them for parts.
By his 21st birthday, Pablo already had many associates. The deeds of the criminal group became more and more sophisticated, boundless and cruel. Car theft changed to kidnapping (kidnapping for ransom).
History has preserved information that Pablo Escobar and his people kidnapped Diego Echevario in 1971, who at that time was a major industrialist from Colombia. After much torture and attempts to squeeze money out of the rich man, he was simply killed.
At the same time, Pablo Escobar did not hide his involvement in this high-profile case and even declared it openly. Thus, he earned even more prestige among the poor population of Medellin, who even arranged a holiday in honor of this event. And Pablo Escobar received the respectful nickname "El Doctor". So another Robin Hood was born.
With the funds stolen from the rich, Pablo Emilio built houses for the poor, thereby winning their gratitude.
Pablo performed all these “feats” at the age of 21. A year later, Medellin no longer knew a cooler and more famous crime boss than Pablo Escobar. Escobar's criminal business expanded, as did the size of his gang. He was no longer satisfied only with kidnapping people and extorting money from them. From now on, Escobar began to be interested in drugs and devoted himself to the cocaine trade until the end of his life.
His activity in the cocaine trade began with buying the drug from manufacturers and reselling it to smugglers. And they were already throwing powder into America. Possessing determination and willingness to take any measures to achieve his goals, Pablo Escobar did not leave competitors. Any profitable criminal business did not go unnoticed by Escobar. Pablo has no competitors left. He became the sole owner of all cocaine in the country. And no one dared to stand in his way.
All this allowed Pablo to organize the delivery of cocaine to the United States himself, and his assistant Carlos Leider equipped a point in the Bahamas, which was a transshipment point for all drug trafficking.
The case was well organized. Absolutely everything related to cocaine was under control. Everyone who wanted to engage in drug trafficking, one way or another, was forced to unfasten the cocaine king 35% of the cost of the exported drug lot. And Pablo, in turn, guaranteed the delivery of the powder safe and sound. Under Pablo Escobar, the Colombian jungle was a kind of hideout for cocaine laboratories.
At crime bosses different countries of the old formation have a rule "Do not have a family." The reason is that the family, as it were, fetters and makes vulnerable. This is exactly what happened to Escobaro when he was 27 years old. Having succumbed to the charm, or whatever, of his girlfriend Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo, Pablo married her. Most likely this happened due to Maria's pregnancy, since a month after the wedding she gave birth to a son, who was named Juan Pablo. Let's say right away that after 3 years, Pablo Escobar also had a daughter. They named her Manuella. All this made the gangster very vulnerable.
However, he was still very strong. And in 1977, Pablo teams up with three major drug dealers. A kind of organization is being created, later called the Medellin Cocaine Cartel.
Escobar, Brothers Ochoa Vazquez Jorge Luis (right with hat), Juan David and Fabio
By the summer of 1977, there was no one more powerful than Pablo left in Colombia. His cartel had everything at its disposal: money, planes to transport cocaine to the states, chemical laboratories for the production of the drug. They even had submarines with which they transported cocaine. The cartel has spread its nets all over the world. For 17 years, Escobar's cocaine could be bought in Colombia, Peru, USA, Europe, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras and Canada.
If we take into account that during these years there was no cocaine in the USSR, and if there was, then in a very modest amount, it turns out that only Pablo Escobar dealt with all the cocaine in the world. Escobar bought everyone. Judges, policemen, politicians. They all received money from the cocaine king. Those who could not be bought were intimidated, killed, blackmailed. But the organization continued to function without interruption. Money flowed like a river. rock stars and Hollywood actors thrown out of windows, shot, hanged themselves. And Forbs magazine for 1989 calculated that Pakblo Escobar's net worth was $47,000,000,000.
But Pablo didn't sit on his money. Part of the funds he still spent on arranging life for the poor population of Medellin. It was thanks to him that stadiums were built in the city, free houses(quarters of Pablo Escobar), as well as new roads. It is not known what prompted him to such generous gestures. Maybe it was a desire to make amends for their sins? Vryatli. Pablo himself grew up in a poor family. Most likely it was a kind of revenge on the rich and the desire to turn over all the foundations of that time. This pushed him to war with the entire rich world.
The wealth of Pablo Escobar
Let's take a closer look at the personal wealth of the cocaine king. Maybe this is of interest to someone. Pablo Escobar owned 500,000 hectares of land and 34 estates. 40 rare cars. We have already talked about submarines and aircraft above.
main estate
Escobar's favorite estate had 20 lakes. 6 pools were not enough for him. And in the "backyard" a small airport comfortably settled down. There was also a zoo in the estate, in which animals from all over the world were brought. This zoo still exists today. You can visit it for a small fee of 20,000 pesos.
Entrance to the zoo
Maybe gossips and they say, but there is a legend that the far corners of the estate witnessed the owner's sexual orgies, which were attended by all his friends and young Colombian girls. By the way, the girls lived there and formed a kind of harem. For his harem, Pablo ordered the best hairdressers and cosmetologists in Europe and Italy. Not life but a fairy tale. All you have to do is keep killing someone.
Pablo Escobar in politics
As you probably already know from the movies, all criminals sooner or later want to legalize their wealth and "tie up with the past." So it was with the Escobars. In 1982, he puts forward his candidacy for elections and at the age of 32 he becomes a deputy congressman of the Colombian Congress. But that's too small for a man like Pablo. His goal is to become President of Colombia. Moreover, the support of the poor population is provided to him.
Who knows, maybe this was the first step that Pablo took in the wrong place ... Maybe he still sold his cocaine all over the world if he hadn’t gotten into politics.
Rodrigo Lara Bonia was the first to stand on Pablo's path to the presidency. The then Minister of Justice. He launched a campaign against Pablo, relying on the fact that he was putting dirty cocaine money into his election campaign. This has brought results. The cocaine king was expelled from the Colombian Congress. This put a heavy cross on his political career. We all already understand what Pablo Escobar did in connection with this. It was 1984.
On April 30, the Mercedes in which the Minister of Justice was traveling was shot point-blank. The Minister could not be saved. Never before had an official of this stature been killed in Colombia.
Brief war in Colombia
As a result of Escobar's assassination of the prime minister, the drug lord became interested in the United States. The initiator of the war on drugs was the Administration of the President of the United States of America. With the consent of then President Ronald Reagan, the war on drugs was not limited to the United States. Drug dealers began to drive around the world. For the sake of capturing Pablo Escobar, an agreement was concluded with Colombia, which pledged to extradite all drug dealers to US justice. As a result, this served as a pretext for a small war.
Since Pablo did not want to simply surrender to justice, and his influence was very large, a group of people who were ready to stand for him to death led fighting against Colombian policemen and officials.
In an effort to change the laws of the country and avoid extradition to the United States, Pablo Escobar and other major drug dealers armed their army with machine guns, portable rocket launchers, and grenades. As a result of their actions, the Palace of Justice in the capital of the country, Bogota, was captured and all documents that in one way or another related to the extradition of criminals were destroyed.
In response, the state attracted a significant part of the army units that surrounded the Palace. For 27 hours, during which the siege and storming of the palace lasted, 97 people died, including 11 judges. The assault was carried out using special forces groups, helicopters and tanks.
Something that Pablo Escobar still achieved. The Supreme Court was forced to cancel the extradition of drug lords to America. But this did little to help Pablo, as the decision of the supreme court was vetoed by the president of Colombia. I had to keep hiding.
The war is gaining momentum
In 1987, Pablo Escobar had to part with his closest assistant, Carlos Leider. Despite everything, he was extradited to the United States.
Life has ceased to be so comfortable and stable. In 1989, realizing that justice is no longer so easy to buy, Pablo undertakes another deal with him. His main condition is not to extradite him to the United States. But the Colombian government refuses and the war continues.
On August 16 of the same year, Judge Carlos Valencia dies, and a day later, Police Colonel Waldemar Franklin Conter is killed. Events begin to unfold very rapidly. On August 18, Luis Carlos Galán, who was a well-known politician in Colombia, follows the judge of the Supreme Court of Colombia and the police colonel. They remove him for promising to rid Colombia of drug dealers if he becomes president.
The presidential election was approaching. The wave of murders was gaining momentum. In the capital of Bogota, explosions thundered almost every day. Only in two weeks they counted 7. They claimed the lives of 37 people. Along the way, another 400 were wounded. They cut down the forest - chips fly.
The culmination of this whole epic was the explosion of a Boeing 727. The plane was blown up on November 27, 1989. There were 107 people on board, including the crew. But these people died in vain, since Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, the future president of Colombia, who was going to fly this flight, canceled the flight.
It could not be tolerated any longer, and the drug dealers were taken seriously. The government organized raids throughout the country. The hunt was on all drug dealers. These raids helped destroy a large part of the drug laboratories. All the cocaine plantations that could be found were burned. But Pablo nevertheless made 2 attempts to kill Miguel Mas Marquez, who was the chief of the Colombian police and part-time general. December 6, 1989, as a result of the second attempt on his life, 62 people were killed. About a hundred were injured. By the new year 1990, Pablo could be proud of the status of the most wanted drug trafficker in the United States.
The government of Colombia created a special "Special Search Group", the main purpose of which was to search for and capture Pablo Escobar. This group included the most experienced specialists from the best police units, professionals from the military, special agents and employees of the prosecutor's office. The high professionalism and well-coordinated activities of all members of this organization, led by Colonel Martinez, made it possible to capture the closest associates of Pablo Escobar during a successful operation.
In the late 80s, during a police raid, a ranch was surrounded, where, according to agents at that time, there were drug cartel bosses Gilberto Rendon and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. During the shootout, the first of them and Rodriguez's son Freddy were shot dead, and his father, Rodriguez Gacha, committed suicide by shooting himself.
Immediately after this unprecedented action, Escobar's people organized the kidnapping of several of the richest and most influential people Colombia. The drug lord assumed that through influential relatives of the hostages it would be possible to influence officials in the government in order to cancel the agreement regarding the extradition of criminals. And this plan was a success of the mafiosi with brilliance, the officials made concessions and the extradition of the cocaine king was canceled.
In the summer of 1991, when Escobar no longer feared extradition to the United States of America, he agreed to plead guilty to some minor scams, on the condition that he not be charged with his other more serious crimes. Conclusion Escobar served in a prison called "La Catedral", which was built at his expense.
During his so-called "time out", Escobar did not cease to be the main head of the cocaine business, which brought in billions of dollars in income. There was a case when the drug lord learned that his partners in the cocaine business dared to pocket part of the proceeds while the boss was away for a “good reason”, so to speak. Escobar could not forgive this, it was ordered to deliver the violators to his residence, namely to the La Catedral prison. There, the guilty companions were subjected to severe torture, Escobar himself personally drilled into his victims' kneecaps and pulled out nails, then an order was received to kill negligent partners and get rid of the corpses. As you know, Escobar personally carried out one murder of a person himself.
Such an act was a clear overkill; in the middle of the summer of 1992, Colombian President Cesar Gaviria signed a decree transferring Escobar to a regular prison. However, Escobar was aware of the government's plans in advance and escaped. In the photo - an image of the prison "La Catedral".
And now the drug lord was on the other side of the bars, but enemies lurked around and there were less and less shelters where you could feel safe. The American and Colombian governments were determined to put an end to one of the biggest bosses of the Colombian mafia and his famous Medellin cocaine cartel forever. The decision was made to pursue Escobar to the end and, if possible, not to take him alive when captured.
In order to destroy the Medellin cocaine cartel in Colombia, a special organization “Los Pepes” functioned, the name of which consisted of the initial letters of the phrase “Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar”, which means “Pursued by Pablo Escobar”. The members of this organization were residents of Colombia, whose loved ones were killed by Escobar's people. In a short period of time, as a result of the activities of this organization, Escobar's criminal empire suffered significant losses, many of Escobar's people were killed by members of the organization, the drug lord's family was persecuted and attacked, his estates were burned as a result of arson.
In the photo, the prison "La Catedral"
In October 2009, Escobar's son Sebastian Marrokamn told a story that somehow hiding from the police, Escobar and his children ended up high in the mountains, they were caught by a very cold night. Then, in order to warm his children at least a little and cook food on a fire, the famous cocaine king threw about two million paper dollars into the fire. In the photo - an image of Pablo Escobar with his daughter Manuella.
In October 1993, Escobar's cocaine business began to fall apart. However, this was not at all the most worried about the drug lord, who was constantly thinking about his loved ones, whom he had not seen for about a year.
In December 1993, when Escobar reached the age of 44, he broke down and made one single call to his family. He was well aware that he was being followed, which is why the call was very short so that he did not have time to get into the field of view of his pursuers. The photo shows an image of Escobar with his family.
So he contacted his family on December 2nd and stayed in touch with his son Juan for about 5 minutes. Special services agents who hunted for a long time on Escobar, of course, they expected that someday the drug lord would contact his loved ones. After this call, Escobar's stay in the Medellin quarter of Los Olibos was established. The building where he was located was surrounded by police within minutes.
The door was smashed in, and special forces rushed inside the building, where they were met with heavy fire from firearms, which was led by Escobar's personal bodyguard El Limon. Soon he was wounded, and he could no longer continue the fight, then the drug lord himself appeared near the window instead of him. Shooting on the move, Escobar climbed onto the roof and tried to escape from the chase, but he was “taken off” from the roof by a sniper, whose bullet hit him exactly in the head, Escobar died immediately.
Now, the participants of the raid began to climb onto the roof to verify the death of the drug lord and began to photograph his corpse in order to capture this valuable “trophy”. Later, these photographs were seen by the whole world. This is how the “Robin Hood of Colombia” left this mortal world, who was sentenced to death and carried out by the simple people, whom he allegedly cared for throughout his career as a cocaine king.
Thousands of Colombians filled the Medellin streets on December 3, 1993 to see the famous drug lord, some to say goodbye and mourn, and some to gloat. At the funeral of the odious leader of the cocaine cartel, about 20 thousand Colombian citizens came.
At the moment when the coffin with the body of Escobar began to be carried through the streets of Medellin for further burial, such unrest began in the crowd that they can be safely called Khodynka in Colombian. The coffin-bearing people of the late drug lord were simply swept away and pushed aside. The lid of the coffin was torn off and a thousand human hands reached out to the body of the already deceased cocaine king in order to touch the legend that once lived at least once.
According to the evil irony of people's rumors, which came up with the version that Escobar kept his cash and precious items within the walls of the estate, the villa of the famous cocaine billionaire suffered a sad fate. After his death, the estate godfather was disassembled brick by brick by Colombian peasants and taken away in an unknown direction.
The famous prison "La Catedral" is also destroyed at the present time, Escobar's vast estates are overgrown with weeds, once luxurious cars are completely rusted. The widow of a drug lord and his heirs live in Argentina, his brother almost lost his sight as a result of a bomb that exploded, which was sent to him in prison by letter.
But even today, if you ask people's opinion about Pablo Escobar on the streets of Medellin in the heart of the slums, believe me, you will not hear anything bad about him.
Images of Pablo Escobar are sold on the Colombian streets along with portraits of Che Guevara. In some parts of Colombia, he is revered as a saint, pilgrimages are made to his grave. IN tourism business In Colombian Medellin, the legend of the “cocaine king” is widely popular, the museum of which is visited by tens of thousands of tourists every year.
For three years, British photographer James Mollison has been 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 whole decade, but in the poor neighborhoods of his native Medellin, he is called Robin Hood. The drug lord donated millions of dollars earned from the supply of cocaine in the United States to social housing, churches and football fields.
Many Colombians remember the free tours at the zoo at Escobar's Hacienda Napoles estate, which kept elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinos, hippos and exotic birds. 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 inscriptions “Saint Pablo”, and thousands of people visit his grave, despite the struggle of the authorities with the cult of the former “owner” of the city.
1. In the image of the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (left). wax figure from the collection of the Police Museum (right)
2. Pablo on the day of the first communion, 1956
drug business
Escobar, the son of a farmer and a school teacher, began his criminal career by stealing tombstones from the Medellin cemetery. At the age of twenty, he was already at the head of a gang that traded in car thefts. When cocaine began to replace marijuana in 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 the 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 Leder bought one of the Bahamas - passenger flights from Colombia landed there, loaded with cocaine, which was then transported by private jet to Georgia and Florida. Two submarines were also used for smuggling.
3. The structure of the Medellin cartel, 1989
Behind a short time the cartel managed to capture about 80% of the cocaine market in the United States and practically monopolized drug trafficking to Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Spain. In 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.
4. Arrested cargo of drugs (left). Jungle airstrip (right)
5. Fake numbers and masks of the kidnappers (left). Florida homes bought by Escobar in 1981 (right)
6. Cartel money seized during a search, 1989
Policy
In 1982, Escobar was elected as a substitute member of the Congress of Colombia, received parliamentary immunity and represented the country at the inauguration ceremony of Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez. But the very next year, Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonia publicly accused Escobar of drug trafficking and organizing criminal group: 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.
In the same year, the Colombian authorities ratified an agreement 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 acts of intimidation: attacks on officials, policemen and politicians.
7. Wall in one of the houses of the Escobar quarter (left). Meeting with voters, 1982 (right)
8. Debate in Congress after the accusation of Escobar in drug trafficking
9. Escobar at the inauguration of the 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 have lived in the 3,000-hectare Hacienda Napoles estate bought for $63 million.
It is known that, even being wanted, the drug lord tried to spend everything with his children. family holidays and birthdays. In 1993, when members of a rival group announced a hunt for 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 assassination, his family fled to Mozambique and then to Argentina, where Juan Pablo took the name Sebastian Marroquin. In 2009, he publicly apologized to the children of politicians killed on the 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 the image of his father. Two books about Escobar were also written by his brother Roberto and one each by both sisters.
10. Photos in the house of Escobar's mother Ermilda Gaviria, 2005
11. With wife Maria Victoria, early 1980s
12. In a prison cell with his wife and daughter, 1992 (left). With sister on her 31st birthday, 1980 (right)
13. Son's birthday, Hacienda Napoles estate, 1989
Terror
After the adoption of the law on the extradition to the United States of the leaders of the drug cartels, Escobar began to sponsor the militant group MAS ("Death to the Kidnappers"). In addition to an impressive arsenal of weapons, she had her own planes with 30 pilots at her disposal, 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 turn himself in to the police if the extradition law was repealed.
Having been refused, Escobar launched terror: in a year in Bogota, the headquarters of the Administrative Department of Security, the main intelligence service of the country, as well as the editorial offices of the newspapers El Espectador and Vanguardia Liberal, were blown up, a judge of the Supreme Court, a police colonel and presidential candidate Luis Carlos were killed by killers Galan.
14. In addition, the militants blew up a Boeing 727 plane - as a result of the terrorist attack, 110 people were killed.
15. Exploded building of the security department
16. Attack victim
17. The mother of the murdered police officer with photos of her son
18. Miguel Masa, director of the Administrative Department of Security from 1982-1991, survived seven attempts on his life organized by Escobar
Charity
In 1979, Escobar established the Civil Responsibility in Action social assistance system, under the auspices of which medical centers for low-income families were established in Medellin, green spaces were created and sports facilities were built. The most famous charitable program of the drug lord was the project "Medellin without slums", which involved the construction of thousands of houses in the poorest region of Moravia.
The quarter of Pablo Escobar was rebuilt in the city, which is now inhabited by almost 13 thousand inhabitants. The program received the blessing of the Catholic Church, and in the slums of Medellin, the drug lord was often seen handing out 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.
19. Celebration in honor of the first anniversary of the construction of the Escobar quarter, 1985
20. At the opening of the football field, 1982
21. Fundraising for the program "Medellin without the slums", 1983
22. Eight hippos from the Escobar Zoo, 2004
23. 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.
26. Left: Escobar's call interception map, 1993, right: Escobar's personal phone
27. La Catedral Prison, 1992
28. Security room
In response, the head of state established a special search group under the leadership of Colonel Hugo Martinez, who coordinated efforts with US intelligence agencies. Los Pepes, a group of his competitors in the drug business, ultra-right guerrillas and victims of terror launched by the Medellin cartel, also joined the search for Escobar. During the year, Los Pepes killed more than 300 members of the cartel and destroyed a significant part of its property.
After fifteen months of searching, on December 2, 1993, a special group intercepted Escobar's call to his son and located him. On the same day, he was shot dead on the roof of a house in Medellin.
29. Soldiers of the special search group with the body of Escobar
It's hard to imagine life in the heart of a criminal empire in Colombia. However, more recently, some 20-25 years old back, city Medellin in Colombia was the most dangerous city on the planet. This status was given to the city 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) to this day continues to attract the attention of many people around the world. A lot has already been written about him, and in 2014 another feature film was shot. « Lost heaven» With Benicio Del Toro V leading role. This film does not reflect even half of the horror in which the Colombians lived in those years.
Benicio Del Toro, "Paradise Lost"
During his lifetime, Pablo Escobar was ambitious and cruel man. Rivers of blood flow behind his deeds, with which the city of Medellin and its environs were washed 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 staged by the most bloodthirsty drug lord of our time. In our time, 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.
On the Internet you can find information on excursions who are now in Medellin in the places of the odious drug lord. If you ask yourself, then such an excursion can be easily organized by yourself. So we decided to visit the most iconic places associated with the life of Pablo Escobar on our own.
To begin with, I will say that Colombians are not eager to remember and talk about Escobar, as many of them still remember the terrible time that they had to endure, and strive to forget it as soon as possible. This is understandable. It is probably even indecent to ask someone 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 the tyranny of the era of Pablo Escobar and his associates, the Colombians have now gone too far. I'm talking about how, every week from Wednesday to Sunday, the streets in Medellin are buzzing with the sounds of a fiesta. until 3 am. This was unimaginable in 80s of XX century. Everyone, as if, continues to rejoice at the Escobar regime that has sunk into the past, plunging into the abyss of endless fun. Medelliners massively arrange noisy parties in numerous restaurants and taverns of the city, forgetting, or simply ignoring those who want to sleep at night. If not for the legislative ban on the work of entertainment establishments until 3 hours nights in Colombia, they would probably walk around for days on end.
For me, this revelry is very similar to an expression of joy that the hard times of the Medellin drug wars 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 feature of Colombians is an optional. To promise, to offer something and not to deliver is the norm of communications in many Latin American countries, but in Colombia we have come across this feature many times. At first it's annoying, then you get used to it and don't pay attention.
Echoes of that high-profile era of the drug cartels of the times of Pablo Escobar, which still continue to operate on the territory of Colombia, can be found now. So, at discos, in a crowd of vacationers, you can see people sniffing white powder, and it is legally allowed to carry some small dose of drugs with you, and for this there is no death penalty as in some Asian countries.
So, we started our excursion into the history of Medellin of those times from the end historical events we decided to visit cemetery Montesacro Gardens (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 for and detain Escobar was carried out jointly with the American intelligence services and lasted more than a year. Pablo with his most devoted associates managed to hide from them for a long time. But one day he was calculated by phone call, he called his son the day after his 44th anniversary and made a serious mistake that cost him his life - he remained 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 Itagui(on the blue line), and, not passing (attention here!) river Rio Medellin, on the footbridge to get out of the subway.
Itagui metro station on Google maps it is not marked at all where it actually is!
Subway station on google maps Itagui 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 Itagui are very close to each other, and this is not true! In reality, from the metro to the cemetery is quite far (about 2-3 km).
A Google Maps mistake could cost someone a visit to Escobar's grave if you decide to visit it yourself.
There is still a real Itagüí metro station in Medellin on Google maps! It is not connected to any of the designated subway lines in the city, and is marked on the map as Metro Estacion Itagui. And the metro station itself Itagui and a cemetery Montesacro Gardens are on the same bank of the river Rio Medellin.
Itagui 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 do not get lost, below I give detailed description of the route from the Itagüí metro station to the cemetery of Cementerio Jarnines Montesacro where Pablo Escobar is buried.
So, we leave the subway at the station Itagui, we don’t cross the river, but we go along Calle 50 in the opposite direction from the river to the street Autopista Del Sur(Sur Freeway, another name - Carrera 42) meters 200 .
at the crossroads and Calle 50 see metal bridge through Autopista Del Sur (Carrera 42), this is a footbridge. If you were walking along Calle 50, then here you need to turn left and, better, cross the street, since on the opposite side of the street there is a wide and convenient sidewalk. Along the street Autopista Del Sur (Carrera 42) from the subway Itagui there are no sidewalks at all in places, 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, the cemetery itself will be on the same side.
Without turning anywhere, we go straight all the time. On the street Autopista Del Sur (Carrera 42) There are some buses, the routes of which we have not figured out. The area here resembles an industrial zone, the streets are deserted, but there is a lot of transport.
Minutes through 20 you will see a fenced area located on a hill. We reach the checkpoint with the gate, this is entrance to the Cementerio Jarnines Montesacro cemetery.
upstairs leads highway, and immediately from the fence to the right there are steps for pedestrians - we are here. We go up the stairs, and the first thing we see is gray Chapel building.
Grave of Pablo Escobar located at the walls of this Chapels at the cemetery Montesacro Gardens. To see the tomb of the self-proclaimed king Pablo Escobar, Chapel you need to completely bypass the right side. At the moment when we approached her, 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 in Time of Troubles, Pablo Escobar was a real 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 in him the monster he is presented 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 tomb sculptures made of rare stone here.
Cemetery Montesacro Gardens the place is quite well maintained and modern, it is positioned as ecological cemetery which can be visited even with pets. The cemetery administration unobtrusively informs about this - small flags are installed throughout the cemetery, calling for people to come here with their pets, and in return only asks to clean up the excrement after them.
And, of course, this cemetery is strikingly different from most classical cemeteries in Latin America.
If we move counterclockwise from the Chapel with the grave of Pablo Escobar along the footpaths, 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, the guard forbade 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. Last name Betancourt Latin America belongs to a noble family. And in Cuba we stayed in Casa house Particulares, whose owners also have the name Betancourt. The atmosphere in that house was somewhat different from the rest of the houses in Cuba. The behavior and the way the mistress kept herself looked like an aristocratic one. Maybe 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, colorful butterflies flutter over the cemetery.
Even on a weekday at the height of the day there are people here, but there are not so many of them that this is a problem. Fortunately, the size of the cemetery allows everyone to scatter in different angles.
A bit further - Pantheon building Eternal Memory(Panteon de la Eterna Memoria), and behind it looks out an ordinary residential building. It is unlikely that sufficiently wealthy people live in this house so close to the cemetery. Calm and quiet, there is no dusty highway under the windows, and only a peaceful view opens from the windows of apartments in this building.
Inside Pantheon I did manage to take a few photos though. Here is vintage hearse, in which horses were harnessed at one time, and a coachman sitting somewhere up there with a mute face was taking his passenger on his last journey.
There are few people in the Pantheon either. 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 relocated here in order to constantly remind them of the frailty of life? After all, the other side of the window of the house overlooks 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 being that surrounds a person every moment of his life. Have fun, don't say anything.
In this small, relatively new garden, as can be seen from the unsigned tombstones, Bosque de Vida, everyone can buy a place for their last resting place.
Here in the cemetery there is a nice little service - you can choose a shady place for yourself in advance under the overgrown spathiphyllum bushes (spathiphyllum), under the Indian mango tree, under the bushes with blue-orange flowers.
Or at all, if you want, you can buy a plot of land with a gate completely fenced off by a stone wall and equip it as you wish.
For example, like the patio of a house in London.
When we visited the cemetery Montesacro Gardens V March 2015, under "tree of life" growing in the middle of this wonderful garden Bosque de Vida, many more unsold seats. Yes, and fenced off areas in some places are still free. Here and there in the park-cemetery there are such birds with a crest, they quickly run between the graves and look like small dinosaurs looking for something to profit from.
In the middle of the cemetery mass grave with the monument "People".
IN total we spent about an hour at the cemetery 3 . Time seems to stop here, and that heavy and sad aura that I feel in cemeteries in Russia is not felt. Cemetery Montesacro Gardens- it's like an enterprise, a park in which people work, maintaining cleanliness and order in their possessions. I wonder if they are funded by the state or is it a completely commercial structure that pays for itself by selling small plots of land into the future and eternal possession? And if so, what other related services do they provide to their regular customers?
Back to metro station Itagui we went the same way that we went to the cemetery. We caught a little rain, the heat subsided a little.
I already wrote about this, but I will repeat. In Colombia, it is not recommended to lean against the walls of buildings, fences and poles up to the height of the human causative organs. This is due to the fact that the Colombians are not shy to relieve a small need where they feel like it. I'm talking about commoners and ill-mannered people when viewed from above European civilization, of people. When asked about this mass Colombian phenomenon, my Colombian friends in Medellin shrugged their shoulders and answered that they had nothing like it in their country, and they had never seen anything like it. But I personally have 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 seems to me that the walls of buildings have been absorbing urine for centuries.- this can be seen from the unambiguous, sometimes fresh, smudges on the walls and is felt by the persistent smell of urea. It happens during the day, in the evening, at any time of the day. The human body can not relieve itself according to a schedule. That's what I wanted and that's it! What to do? He turned to a tree or a fence, unzipped his fly and let the whole world rest. By the mass nature of this phenomenon Colombia can only be compared with Guatemala and other countries are not too far behind.
This time I caught one of them 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 subway. Everything would be fine, but the nearby warning sign, as it were, hints at the fact that he doesn’t care if they look at him or not.
All in all, Colombia In this regard, it also reminds me India, where poor and uneducated people are not shy at all and relieve even great need in crowded places. Well, it sucked! What!? Put on pants? Sometimes you travel like this in India by train, look out the window, enjoy the beauties of local landscapes ... And here you are! The picture changes dramatically, 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, vile for Puritan society, and let's go to where we are. the house where the father of Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar lived.
We took the subway to the station Aguacatala and went up the hill on the road. The area 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 create his own, terrifying to Medellin, business. After Escobar killed in 1993 The house was ransacked and is now in complete disrepair. The authorities of Medellin still do not know what to do with this house, so it continues to deteriorate from year to year.
Not noticing anyone, we decided to try to move the gate in order to enter the territory and take a few shots. Hearing the hysterical creak of the gate, from somewhere in the depths of the courtyard scary house a uniformed guard appeared and said that entry 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 pictures closer. The guard surrendered without a fight and let us inside on 5 minutes.
This main entrance to Pablo Escobar's house.
Decorated richly for those times? Or was the richest man on the planet of those times simply no taste?
In the lobby are 3 elevator. The ceilings are very low. Of course, there is no greatness in all this now. And was it?
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 this strange place is.
In general, the architecture of the building is of absolutely no interest. So, we noted in one more Escobarovsk place.
In the backyard of Escobar's house there is a huge dish antenna. mobile phones in those years it was not, the antenna could serve for satellite communications.
And in the basement of the house is garage. The entrance to the garage is very inconvenient. You need to drive in and out of it carefully because of the wall standing directly opposite the entrance to the garage.
Pablo Escobar was a famous collector rare cars they were all here. Probably, something from the collection could be preserved, this good rests somewhere in the backyard of one of Escobar's admirers.
In the courtyard of the house there is a playground. One can imagine how the guards and other retinue of the drug lord whiled away the time waiting for the next brilliant plans of the villain.
In the far corner of the courtyard stands an inconspicuous wooden structure. Now ruins remain of it. From a distance it can be seen that the interior of this building is finished with ceramic tiles.
Not to say that all this is chic, but on a grand scale. Indeed, in Colombia, some people still live in wooden and cardboard boxes, and the social gap between rich and poor Colombians is widening year by year.
Well, since we are here, in this part of the city, at the same time we decided to visit another attraction of Medellin - Palace of El Castillo (Fortress). In general, a lot to tell how we walked around it for hours 3 I won't. I can only say that we were pretty exhausted that day, since this area is located on the hills, and all this time we went up and down through the sweltering heat and all 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 still found this palace El Castillo. It is located, as it were, in the center of a large, well-to-do park residential area, through which one cannot pass through, since the parks and squares near the houses are surrounded by fences with a checkpoint, like at the house of Pablo Escobar.
Approaching the entrance of the fortress, we learned that El Castillo Museum closes in 20 minutes, paid entrance. We twirled a little at the entrance, looked at the palace from afar and trudged to the subway.
If it were not for random passers-by, then again they would have wandered around this quarter of an hour 3 . And this is despite the presence of a map on which this entire huge residential area was marked with one green spot, which we initially took for a park. Of course, there is also a park there, but don’t ask how to get into it.
In the elite, so to speak, district of the city, in its very center, on the way to the metro, we met cows freely grazing on a huge field surrounded by a barbed wire fence.
We hardly spoke the whole way back, as any movement of the muscles, even the tongue, seemed heavy and difficult. But at home, when they arrived at their station Estadio, we unanimously decided to treat ourselves after such an intense walking tour that took all day - in the supermarket EXITO we bought the famous medellin Tres Leches (Three Milk) cake, and soda!
And with such pleasure they scammed half TresLeches for two, washing down with sizzling bubbles that taste like Pinocchio. Traditional Colombian treat, cake TresLeches is a biscuit generously soaked in sweet liquid cream, topped with a layer of condensed milk covered with whipped cream and a little bit of 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 it turned out to be a voluminous material, and the week turned out to be saturated, that is still a week.
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Escobar's income
In the mid-eighties, Escobar's cartel was generating $420 million a week, which adds up to about $22 billion a year.
One of the richest people in the world
By the end of the eighties, it supplied 80 percent of the world's cocaine. He smuggled about 15 tons of cocaine daily into the United States of America.
According to journalist Ioan Grillo, the Medellin Cartel moved most of the drugs right across the coast of Florida. “Between the northern coast of Colombia and the coast of Florida as much as one and a half thousand kilometers, and all this time the one who moved 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 set off from the coast to them. Sometimes the goods were dumped right on the coast of Florida, ”said Grillo.
King of America
In other words, four out of five Americans who used cocaine used the product supplied by El Patron. Every month, the King of Cocaine made a $2.1 billion loss, but it didn't matter. Incredible Wealth Escobar became a problem when he couldn't launder money fast enough. According to Roberto Escobar, the cartel's chief accountant and brother of a well-known drug lord, he began burying huge sums of money in Colombian fields, hiding them in dilapidated warehouses and the walls of cartel members' houses. “Pablo made so much that every year we wrote off ten percent of our earnings because the money was eaten by rats in warehouses, water damaged or lost,” he said. Based on how much
Escobar earned ten percent, which amounted to $2.1 billion.
Escobar simply had more money than he could use, so the occasional loss due to rodents or mold was not a problem for him.
Every month he spent two and a half thousand dollars on rubber bands.
While the constant need to hide, as well as losing money, was one problem, the brothers faced another, more basic problem - how to organize banknotes neatly? According to Roberto Escobar, the Medellin cartel spent about $2,500 on rubber bands that were used to form bundles of banknotes.
He once lit a two million dollar fire because his daughter was cold.
In 2009, Pablo Escobar's son Juan Pablo, now known as Sebastian Marroquin, described what life on the run was like with the King of Cocaine. According to Marroquin, the family was living in a mountainside shelter in Medellin when Pablo Manuela's daughter suffered an attack of hypothermia. Escobar decided to burn two million dollar bills to keep his daughter warm.
Once a girl asked to give her a unicorn.
Escobar bought a horse and had a horn-shaped cardboard cone stapled to its head. Also, wings were sewn to the back of the horse, as a result of which the animal died from an infection. Escobar did not feel sorry for any money for the sake of his daughter when she had baby tooth, the “tooth fairy” left a suitcase with $ 1 million near her bed, allegedly in exchange for her tooth. When the girl asked how many billions he had, Pablo always answered her: “As much as the look of your eyes is worth, my princess”!
It is said that Escobar forced one of his mistresses, who became pregnant from him, to have an abortion only because the drug lord promised Manuela that she would always be his only and beloved daughter.
He was nicknamed "Robin Hood" when he gave money to the poor on the streets, built houses for the homeless, created seventy public football fields, and established 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 called "La Catedral", which he himself designed. Under the terms of the agreement concluded with the government of Colombia, Escobar could choose who would be imprisoned with him.
He was also free to continue his cartel business and receive visitors. The grounds of La Catedral included a soccer field, a barbecue lawn and a patio, and it was also close to 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.
End of career and death of Pablo
During his "imprisonment", Pablo Escobar continued to run a multi-billion dollar cocaine business. One day he learned that his partners in the cocaine cartel, taking advantage of his absence, robbed him. He immediately ordered his men to take them to La Catedral. He personally subjected them to brutal torture, drilling his victims' knees and pulling out their nails, and then ordered his people to kill them and take the corpses out of the prison. It is known that Escobar committed one of the two murders with his own hand.
Escobar has gone too far this time. On July 22, 1992, President Cesar Gaviria gave the order to transport Pablo Escobar to a real prison. But Escobar found out about the president's decision and fled.
He was free, but now there were enemies everywhere.
In the fall of 1993, the Medellin cocaine cartel began to disintegrate, but the drug lord was more worried about his family. Escobar has not seen his wife or children for over a year. On December 1, 1993, Pablo Escobar turned 44 years old. He knew that he was under constant surveillance, so he tried to speak on the phone as briefly as possible so that he would not be “spotted” by police and special services agents.
The day after his birthday, December 2, 1993, Escobar called his family. The agents hunting for him had been waiting for this call for many hours. This time, while talking to his son Juan, Escobar stayed on the line for about 5 minutes. After that, Escobar was spotted in the Medellin quarter of Los Olibos. Soon the house in which Pablo Escobar was hiding was surrounded on all sides by special agents. The commandos knocked out the door and rushed inside. At that moment, Escobar's bodyguard El Limon opened fire on the police who were trying to storm the house.
El Limon was injured and fell to the ground. Immediately after that, with a pistol in his hands, Pablo Escobar himself leaned out the same window. He opened fire indiscriminately in all directions. He then climbed out the window and tried to escape his pursuers through the roof. A Colombian police sniper who was hiding on the roof of a nearby house shot Escobar in the leg, causing him to fall. The next bullet hit Escobar in the back, after which the sniper approached Escobar and fired a control shot in the head.
drug lord Pablo Escobar built while still alive Hacienda Napoles estate as a monument to his greatness. Even 22 years after his death, this gigantic estate is as alive as ever. Several people take care of it. And he also talks about this and about the life of a drug lord crime drama"Narcos" (Narcos, from Spanish - Drug Dealers), which has become so popular lately.
Colombian police pose in front of the entrance to former place residence of the drug lord Pablo Escobar
Speaks Robin Hartmann
We are writing about 1978, when the then 30-year-old man began his incredible career death, and during which thousands of innocent people passed away. And thanks to this, he became one of the richest and most powerful people in the world: Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria at that time, he stood only at the beginning of his career as the future terrible drug lord of all times and peoples. He was also responsible for numerous illegal shops and murders. It was already clear earlier that El Patron de Mal(in German: Mister Evil) or El Capo, as he was already called, is a man in whose hands is all the power that he needs. Namely, when and where he needs it.
Shot from the series "Narco"
Was filmed film about life Pablo Escobar , in particular, the series "Narco" with Wagner Moura starring.
Naturally, such a man needed hearth. His flamboyant and unambiguous manner and image represent his dominance and everyone else should understand this: he is the Boss! At Escobaro there was a small private property in Puerto Triunfo. The land plot is surrounded by a fence and its area is almost 3000 hectares. Immediately after purchase "Hacienda Napolis" construction work started there. Then already Escobar owned an immense financial fortune and could afford to build there: an airplane runway, an unimaginable number of luxury apartments for famous guests, more than 20 artificially created lakes, a helipad, an aircraft hangar, horse quarters, a dino park and his own arena for bull fighting. Today, all of this is part of a theme park.
This complex also includes "Afrikanisches Museum"
1700 employees and a private zoo
Soon, ten luxury residential buildings were built throughout the complex, in which about 1,700 employees lived. Escobar and his business partners. The cost of Hacienda was at one time estimated at over $60 million. Legend has it that he owns a 1934 Chevrolet Modell on display in which a gangster couple was allegedly shot dead. Bonnie and Clyde. It was also known that Escobar honored them both. In addition, the property Escobar there was an exotic arboretum with rare palm trees and other plants.
Car park Escobar
Former truck fleet Pablo Escobaro started to rust. There are not a small number of people who, to this day, are firmly convinced that the rock group Rolling Stones ( Rolling Stones) once performed at Hocienda Napolis. However, this rumor has never been officially confirmed, but this myth has made a certain contribution.
Car park Escobar
All this megalomania was fully reflected in private hobbies, in which Escobar invested millions of dollars private zoo, filled with giraffes, rhinos, elephants, kangaroos, camels and hippos - just to name a few of the many species that live there.
These flamingos walk proudly through Escobar's private zoo and were soon relocated to the Santafe Zoo in the city. Medellin
Friendly junkie needed ideas El Capo, divulged the son Escobar after the death of his father, who today calls himself Sebastian Marroquin. At the time, there were such visible extravagant norms under the Colombian drug lord. But here's the absurdity: a private zoo Escobar was founded after one purchase in the United States of America (Vereinigten Staaten). “My father negotiated with the owners of the zoo in Dallas, Texas (Dallas, Texas),” says the youngest son Escobar, "he paid these people two million dollars in cash and a short time later the animals were sent."
Colombian journalist Juan Felipe Lopez Lara explains why under the noses of the city authorities such bandits as Escobar could lead such an extravagant and conspicuous life without fear of being searched by the police:
Drug dealers then ruled the whole country, they ruled both the politics and the economy of the whole of Colombia. It was an era of pure anarchy, they controlled almost everything, from the fate of states to sports.
That's how Escobar even bought out the South American football competition Copa Libertadores (Copa Libertadores) in 1989 to see how his favorite team wins. "Club Atletico Nacional in the city of Medellin" (Club Atletico Nacional de Medellin).
Pablo Escobar opened his zoo to the public
And again a little about Hacienda Napolis, who, during her lifetime, Escobar bequeathed to future generations. As soon as all construction work was completed on the estate and his private zoo was fully equipped and all animals were delivered there, Pablo Escobar did something very unexpected! Rather than fence off his own property and retire there, he opened the whole territory to the public and gave everyone who entered the opportunity to use their dose of courage there and appease their curiosity.
My son, this zoo is here for the public.
this is how the drug lord explained his decision to the children.
As long as I'm alive, no one here will have to pay to enter. I love that poor people can just come and marvel at the wonders of nature
There were crowds of people. Initial time to visit the zoo Escobaro was calculated as 10 minutes per person, but soon due to huge crowds, the waiting time was increased to two hours.
In his book "Pablo Escobaro is my father" Sebastian Marroquin recounts how he saved an injured deer from his fate both times: “He let me take his Sieg Sauer P-226 pistol and helped me aim. However, it took me three tries because I was very scared and my hands were shaking."
The era of the king of drugs did not last so long: Escobar Of course, he felt like the favorites of little people and the crowd, he always acted boldly, boldly and mercilessly. Thousands of people died in this drug war. It seemed that Colombia lost in this fight against the mighty Escobaro. AND USA insisted that the man who filled their entire country with cocaine receive American capital punishment. The truth meanwhile Escobar a deal with the authorities was granted and he was sent behind bars, to a prison that looked like a luxury hotel inside. He built this prison himself. After the escape attempt, it became clear that only the death of state enemy number one would provide a small respite in this drug war and the US would calm down after that.
The shot was fired by an elite group of Colombian and American police officers. federal service for drug control. His Hacienda Napolis estate was confiscated. "The Colombian state and the narcotics service got the whole estate at the time," says the journalist Lopez Lara.
After Escobaro's death , Hacienda is gradually being destroyed
In the next few decades, such an elegant and pompous place collapsed quite badly: the robbers took with them everything they could carry, nature again took all its strength and the entire Hacienda began to slowly collapse before our eyes and become covered with destructive greenery. Surprising changes were taking place with the once brilliant private zoo. Even during his lifetime Escobaro many hippopotamuses, which were brought by him, ran away. He brought them because the smell of their fertilizer covered the smell of drugs.
Pablo Escobar hippos 
Pablo Escobar hippos
Hippos were imported from Pablo Escobaro and are now enjoying freedom: hippos are close to Hacienda Napolis.
“Today we try to find all the animals in the area,” explains Lopez Lara. These are the only living hippos living outside of Africa (Afrika). How large their population is, no one can say for sure. Some say that they number about 70 individuals, while others, on the contrary, argue that we are talking O more animals. It is a fact that hippos are doing well in Colombia and their numbers are steadily increasing. Here them sex life much more active than their counterparts in Africa.
According to the BBC company (BBC), the animals in this area suffer greatly: they scare the fish, devour the entire crop and occasionally kill livestock. Probably, Pablo Escobaro this place was a great pleasure, and so now it says that Colombia simply did not give a damn about the soul of Pablo already 20 years after his death.
Today Hacienda Napolis it is again a zoo and a tourist theme park with hotels and attractions. Travel portal TripAdvisor (Tripadvisor) awarded him a certificate of quality in 2014 thanks not only to animals, but also to the fact that you can plunge into the world of a person who, thanks to his career as a criminal, got into Forbes list(Forbes) as one of the richest people in the world.
Today estate Escobaro it is an art museum showing the life stages of a drug lord.
At the entrance, at the gate, you can see a small plane that brought the first contraband shipment of cocaine into the United States. Inside the complex, visitors can walk through the water park and enjoy the dino park, which Escobaro built for his son. And of course, you can learn a lot about yourself Escobaro, about the man whose death all Colombia needed so much.
Life Pablo Escobaro has been filmed many times last time in the series "Narcos" with a Brazilian actor Wagner Moura starring. On this moment You can watch this series on Netflix.
