After escaping from prison, the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command joined the hunt for Pablo Escobar. Soon, they began training and advising a special unit of the Colombian National Police known as the Search Bloc, which had been formed specifically to capture Escobar. As the conflict between Escobar and the Colombian and U.S. governments dragged on and Escobar’s list of enemies grew, a right-wing paramilitary group called Los Pepes (“People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar”) also joined the manhunt. This group was funded by Escobar’s former rivals and associates—the Cali Cartel and a right-wing paramilitary group led by Carlos Castaño.
Search Bloc and Los Pepes
Los Pepes waged a bloody campaign of vengeance against Escobar, during which over 300 of his associates—including his lawyer and relatives—were murdered, and much of the cartel’s property was destroyed. It is believed that members of the Search Bloc, along with Colombian and U.S. intelligence agencies, either cooperated with Los Pepes or turned a blind eye to their activities, as both groups shared a common goal: to locate and either capture or kill Escobar.
This coordination was most evident in the sharing of intelligence with Los Pepes to undermine Escobar and his allies. However, reports suggest that some members of the Colombian police’s Search Bloc were directly involved in Los Pepes’ death squads. One of the leaders of Los Pepes was Diego Murillo Bejarano, better known as Don Berna, a former Medellín Cartel associate who became a drug lord and Escobar rival. He later emerged as a key figure in the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing paramilitary group fighting against the FARC.
The End of the Road for Pablo Escobar
Sixteen months after his escape from prison, Pablo Escobar was killed in a shootout on December 2, 1993. A Colombian surveillance team led by Brigadier Hugo Martínez was able to triangulate a phone call Escobar made and trace him to Los Olivos, a poor neighborhood in Medellín. As authorities closed in, a gunfight broke out between the police and Escobar along with his bodyguard, Álvaro de Jesús Agudelo, known as “El Limón.” The two fugitives attempted to flee via the rooftop and into a back alley, but were shot dead by Colombian National Police. Escobar suffered gunshot wounds to his leg and torso, but the fatal shot was the one that passed through his ear.
It was never confirmed who fired the fatal bullet, nor whether it occurred during the gunfight or was the result of a summary execution. Some of Escobar’s relatives believe he may have taken his own life. His brothers, Roberto Escobar and Fernando Sánchez Arellano, support the theory of suicide, citing Pablo’s own statements and forensic and ballistic evidence.
Documentary about Escobar
The Fate of the Medellín Cartel After Escobar
After amassing great wealth, Escobar established or purchased numerous safe houses, most notably Hacienda Nápoles. The estate featured a house, sculpture park, and a full zoo with animals including elephants, exotic birds, giraffes, and hippos. He even planned to build a fortress in the style of ancient Greece, though construction was never completed. Escobar also owned a four-story house in the U.S. under his own name, which was seized by the U.S. government in the 1980s. Additionally, he owned a lavish Caribbean resort on Grande Island, the largest of 27 coral islands in the Islas del Rosario archipelago, located 22 miles from Cartagena.
Shortly after Escobar’s death and the dismantling of the Medellín Cartel, the Cali Cartel rose to dominance in the cocaine trade until the mid-1990s, when its leaders were either killed or arrested by the Colombian government. The “Robin Hood” image that Escobar had carefully crafted left a deep impression on the local population, who mourned his death—25,000 people attended his funeral.
Epilogue
At the height of its power, the Medellín Cartel generated approximately $70 million a day from drug sales in Colombia—around $22 billion annually. Smuggling about 15 tons of cocaine per day into the U.S. (worth around half a billion dollars), the cartel reportedly spent $1,000 a week on rubber bands to bundle the cash. Approximately 10% of the money was lost due to damage from moisture or rats.
When asked to describe the essence of the cocaine business, Escobar famously replied: “You bribe someone here, bribe someone there, and pay a friendly banker to help you launder the money.”
In 1989, Forbes listed Escobar as one of the world’s 227 billionaires, with a net worth of $3 billion. His cartel controlled around 80% of the global cocaine market. Escobar was also believed to be the main investor in the Medellín football club Atlético Nacional, which won the Copa Libertadores in 1989.
While the governments of Colombia and the U.S. saw him as their top enemy, Escobar was viewed by many Colombians as a hero. He was charismatic and knew how to connect with the poor, funding the construction of football fields, sponsoring youth teams, and building homes, hospitals, and churches—earning him even favor from the Catholic Church.
In return, the local population often helped hide him, warned him about approaching police, and withheld information from authorities. At the height of his power, drug traffickers in and around Medellín gave Escobar and his cartel 20–35% of their profits because he was the only one who could guarantee cocaine shipments to the U.S.
The violent turf wars over control of the cocaine market turned Colombia into the world’s murder capital, with 25,100 violent deaths in 1991 and 27,100 in 1992. Escobar’s practice of offering bounties for the killing of police officers resulted in the deaths of over 600 policemen.
Virginia Vallejo, a TV presenter and Escobar’s former lover, wrote the book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar, in which she accused many figures from Colombia’s political and economic elite of being involved with Escobar. Due to the book’s explosive claims—implicating even Colombian presidents—Vallejo was granted asylum in the United States in 2010.
Escobar’s wife, Maria Victoria, his son Juan Pablo, and daughter Manuela left Colombia in 1995. Argentine director Nicolás Entel later made the documentary Sins of My Father, which follows the lives of Escobar’s children as they seek forgiveness from the sons of Rodrigo Lara Bonilla (the justice minister murdered in 1984) and Luis Carlos Galán. The documentary aired on HBO in October 2010.
Later, the hit series Narcos chronicled Escobar’s life. However, Escobar’s son criticized the show for glamorizing his father’s lifestyle and sending the wrong message to young people.
There are even allegations that Pablo Escobar had ties with the CIA and that links existed between the CIA, Nicaraguan Contras, and the trafficking of cocaine and crack in African-American communities. However, these claims remain unproven and are mostly speculative.
Today, the U.S. spends between $50 and $100 billion annually—depending on the administration—fighting increasingly sophisticated cocaine smuggling networks pioneered by Pablo Escobar. One measure of his power was his offer to pay off Colombia’s national debt of $10 billion in exchange for immunity and the dismissal of all charges against him.
While to most of the world he was a criminal, terrorist, and drug lord, to many Colombians he was—and still is—a hero. One thing is certain: Pablo Escobar left a lasting mark on Colombia, a country once held hostage by a single man.
Author: Ivan Toth
Featured image: AI
