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| medellín cartel traffickers | |
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| escobar, pablo | |
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| 1949 births | |
| 1993 deaths | |
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Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria ( December 1 , 1949 – December 2 , 1993 ) gained world infamy as a Colombian Drug Lord . Escobar became so wealthy in the drug trade that in 1989 Forbes magazine had listed him as seventh richest man in the world. Members of the United States and Colombian Governments, news reporters and the general public considered him to be one of the most brutally ruthless, ambitious and powerful Drug Dealer s in history. LIFE Escobar began what would become one of the most successful criminal careers in history as a teenage car Thief and a tombstone robber in the streets of Medellín , Colombia . He eventually moved into the Cocaine business and began building an enormous Drug Empire during the 1970s . During the peak years, it was alleged that he personally earned as much as one million dollars a day from drug dealing. During the 1980s , Escobar became known internationally as his drug network gained notoriety; '' El Cartel De Medellín '' is said to have controlled a large portion of the drugs that entered into Mexico , Puerto Rico , and the Dominican Republic with Cocaine brought mostly from Peru and Bolivia , as Colombian coca was initially of substandard quality. Escobar's product reached many other nations, mostly around the Americas , although it is said that his network reached as far as Asia . Escobar bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians, and he often personally executed uncooperative subordinates and had anyone he viewed as a threat assassinated. Corruption and intimidation characterized the Colombian system during Escobar's heyday. He had an effective, inescapable strategy that was referred to as ''plata o plomo''; Spanish for ''silver 2 or lead'', intended to mean "accept a bribe or face assassination." He was responsible for the killing of three Colombian presidential candidates who were all competing in the same election, as well as the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 and a Bogotá security building in 1989 . Some analysts argue he was behind the 1985 storming of the Colombian Supreme Court by left-wing guerillas, which resulted in the murder of half the judges on the court. The Cartel de Medellín was also involved in a deadly drug war with its main rival, the Cartel De Cali , for most of its existence. At the height of his empire, Escobar was estimated by ''Forbes'' Magazine to be the seventh-richest man in the world 1 , with his company Medellín Cartel controlling 80 percent of the world's cocaine market. His organization had fleets of planes, boats, and expensive vehicles. Vast properties and tracts of lands were also controlled by the cartel under Escobar due to the almost limitless influx of cash during this period. Estimates are that the Medellín cartel was taking in up to $25 billion annually at its zenith. While seen as an enemy of the United States and Colombian governments, Escobar was a hero to many in Medellín; he was a natural at Public Relations and he worked to create goodwill among Colombia's poor. A lifelong sports fan, he was credited with building Soccer stadiums and sponsoring little league soccer teams in the city. He worked hard to cultivate his Robin Hood image and frequently distributed money to the poor. The population of Medellín often helped Escobar by serving as lookouts, hiding information from the authorities, or doing whatever else they could do to protect him. In , 1992 , he escaped, fearing that he would be extradited to the United States. In 1992, United States Delta Force operators (and later Navy SEAL s from SEAL Team Six ) joined the all-out manhunt for the escaped kingpin. They trained and advised a special Colombian police task force, known as the Search Bloc , which had been created to locate Escobar and bring him to justice. Later, as the conflict between Escobar and United States and Colombian governments dragged on and the numbers of his enemies grew, a Vigilante group known as '' Los Pepes '' (People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar) carried out a bloody campaign fuelled by thirst for Vengeance in which more than 300 of Escobar's associates and relatives were slain and large amounts of his cartel's property was destroyed. Some observers claim that members of the Search Bloc, and also of Colombian and United States intelligence agencies, in their efforts to find and punish Escobar, either colluded with ''Los Pepes'' or would have been moonlighting as both Search Bloc and ''Los Pepes'' simultaneously. This coordination would be conducted mainly through sharing intelligence in order to allow ''Los Pepes'' to bring down the organizational mountain that protected Escobar and his few remaining allies, but there are reports that some individual Search Bloc members may have directly participated in missions of the ''Los Pepes'' death squads. This brings into question the role the United States played in gathering intelligence on Escobar's organization, because some of it was later used by the ''Los Pepes'' organization in its crusade of summary executions. One of the leaders of ''Los Pepes'' was Diego Murillo (also known as "Don Berna", a former Medellín Cartel associate who became a drug kingpin and eventual leader of one of the most powerful factions within the AUC ), who would have admitted to exchanging information with United States and Colombian agents. Don Berna currently takes part in the AUC negotiations with the government in San Ralito. {Link without Title} The level of awareness that United States authorities had regarding this sort of situation and the question of which, if any, would have been the proper reaction to it has occasionally been a matter of debate. The war against Escobar ended on December 2 , 1993 , as he tried to elude the Search Bloc one more time. Using radio triangulation technology provided as part of the United States efforts, a Colombian electronic surveillance team found him hiding in a middle-class Barrio in Medellín. A shootout between Escobar and the Search Bloc personnel ensued. Accordingly, how Escobar was killed during the confrontation has been debated, but it is known that he was cornered on the rooftops of Medellín and suffered gunshots to the leg, back, and the fatal one behind his ear by members of Colombian National Police. After Escobar's death, the Medellín Cartel fragmented and the cocaine market soon became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel, until the mid- 1990s when its leaders, too, were either killed or captured. MEDIA DEPICTIONS The hunt for Escobar was documented in based on this book is scheduled for release sometime in 2006 {Link without Title} . Bowden has been criticized for providing what some consider a one-sided, jingoistic account however. In addition, the plot and characters of the Tom Clancy novel '' Clear And Present Danger '' (and subsequent Motion Picture of the same name) are similar, featuring a Colombian drug lord named "Escobedo", among other similarities. Death metal all star band Brujeria 's 7 inch record "El Patron" is a tribute to Pablo Escobar. Hip-hop and rap artists often refer to "Escobar season," in reference to a time of lawlessness and control through gangsterism. Cliff Curtis portrayed Escobar in the 2001 film '' Blow (film) ''. NOTES
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