Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the Richest, Most Powerful Criminal in History

Колумбийският наркобос Пабло Ескобар е митологизирана личност. У нас кой знае защо за него се говори с почитание и уважение. Историческата истина е далеч по-тривиална - Пабло е престъпник, отговорен за смъртта на стотици. Възходът му е резултат от безскрупулност във времена на беззаконие и повсеместна корупция.

Пабло Ескобар създава наркокартела Меделин в едноименния колумбийски град. Бързо става основният "износител" на кокаин и марихуана за САЩ. В зенита на своята дейност богатството му е несметно, определен е за седмия най-богат човек в света. Освен за удоволствия, Пабло използва парите и за благотворителност. Съгражданите му го сравняват с Робин Худ. Но положителните качества свършват дотук. Наркобосът е безмилостен в своя бизнес. С мрежата си от наемни убийци (сикарио) Пабло изцяло доминира криминалния свят в Колумбия. Негови жертви стават журналисти, полицаи, съдии, политици, дори кандидат за президент. Противниците му бързо биват елиминирани чрез показни екзекуции.

Към края на осемдесетте години ситуацията в Колумбия коренно се променя след намесата на САЩ за прекъсване на наркотрафика. Учудващо, Пабло влиза в споразумение с правителството и доброволно влиза в затвора. Уловката е, че затворът La Catedral е пострен с негови средства и прилича по-скоро на петзвезден хотел. "Задържането" му не трае дълго. След като бива информиран, че се планира преместването му в истински затвор, Пабло решава да избяга. Укрива се в многобройните си тайни имоти и често сменя местоположението. Неговото отмъщение се проявява под формата на ежедневни атентати. Меделин става най-опасното място на Земята, където не се водят военни действия. Избухването на коли бомби става нещо обичайно. Загиват напълно невинни граждани.

С атентатите Пабло си спечелва многобройни и твърде разнородни врагове - колумбийската полиция, американските тайни служби и отдели за борба с наркотиците, конкурентния наркокартел Кали, както и незаконна паравоенна организация Los Pepes. Надпреварата кой първи ще стигне до Пабло е яростна и води до използване на свръхмодерни за времето си технологии. През декември 1993 г. правителствени агенти установяват локацията на беглеца след прихващане на телефонен разговор между него и сина му. Пабло е разстрелян върху покрива на сграда при опита си да избяга.

Поуката, ако въобще има такава, е, че всеки прекалено показен престъпник, рано или късно, получава заслуженото. Но на каква цена?

Последвайте ме в Инстаграм @fibroknigi за още ревюта на интересни книги.

This book is gripping! Its about two stories – one is the rise of cocaine in Colombia, and Pablo Escobar’s role in it, and the second is the manhunt for Escobar after he escapes from prison in 1992. The Colombian cocaine story is an amazing one – it starts in the late 1970s and witnesses the transformation of Colombia into a narco-state as demand for cocaine booms in the US throughout the 1980s. Massive, multi-billion dollar fortunes are made by drug traffickers in places like Medellin, and people like Pablo become a law unto themselves. Basic law and order breaks down as the narcos act with complete impunity – murdering judges, police, presidential candidates, and anyone else who dares stand against them. Escobar’s mantra was “plata o plomo” – “silver or lead,” meaning you either took his money and let him have his way, or you took his bullet. The scale and brutality of the violence is staggering, and I came to be amazed that anyone at all had the courage to go against Pablo and his ilk, given the almost certain tragic consequences for themselves and their family. Most didn’t. Pablo was incredibly ruthless and came to kill not just the official (including people like the poor clerk who happened to sign an arrest warrant), but also torture and kill his children, relatives, and even just friends. Given the circumstances, its not all that surprising that very few in public life were not co-opted or cowed.

The dénouement comes when Pablo negotiates a surrender agreement with President Gaviria and the Colombian government after the brazen murder of a presidential frontrunner and bombing of an airliner – but this an agreement whereby Escobar is allowed to construct his own prison (in actuality an uber-luxurious villa), and pick and employ the guards. Not surprisingly, he continues to run his cocaine business pretty much unimpeded from his “jail,” leaves when he wants to attend soccer matches, brings in women and champagne for parties, and even orders hits. It is one such assassination – of several members of a rival cartel – that is the final straw for the government. But when the army is called in to re-arrest Escobar and transfer him to an actual prison, he manages to escape despite being surrounded by 400 soldiers (the joke in the American embassy becomes, “How many Colombian soldiers does it take to arrest Pablo Escobar? One to unlock the gate and 399 to watch him walk away.”) President Gaviria finally reaches his breaking point and decides to take the gloves off – by which he means, call in the gringos, since he cannot trust essentially anyone in his own government or military. Using American intelligence assets and special forces operators to hunt down a Colombian citizen – even a noxious drug trafficker and murderer – is taboo in Colombia, so it is kept mostly secret, and it is pretty clear that by participating in what is essentially an assassination mission, the US forces also overstep the boundaries laid down by American law and policy (which is that they are only to train Colombian forces, not actually assist them operationally). Its an interesting look at what happens when all the Americans in-country (the Ambassador, the military attaché, the DEA head, the CIA chief of station) are bought into one objective – killing Pablo – and Washington and its instructions are far away.

The whole book is a galloping good read – part study of a society gone haywire and part badass special forces mission tale - and I found myself stunned at times that I was reading nonfiction, given how remarkable and cinematic the events are.

Mark Bowden brought to light a sordid path of destruction and unimaginable terror and death brought about by the hands of one ruthless individual - Pablo Escobar. A mass murderer well on his way to becoming one of the world's "Most Wanted". Shattered lives laid in his wake. His ruthlessness knew no bounds. Negotiated with bullets and blood. His character was well-drawn as the most unscrupulous drug lord of all time. A dubious Crown to behold. This well-written narrative slammed me into the gates of hell as I stood witness to the murder and mayhem - Pure Evil.

Pablo Escobar was raised within a middle-class family. For him, It wasn't enough. In need of garnering attention he wasn't getting at school or home, he sought his vocation on the streets of Colombia. Early on, it consisted of robbing banks and stealing cars. He soon graduated up to the protection racket. People paid him not to have their cars stolen. He was just warming up. Big change was on the way. A gangster was born.

As Pablo graduated further into a life of crime, he discovered an inexhaustible source of wealth that laid at his feet - cocaine. Savagely, he dove in and built an empire of white powder that catapulted him up in standing to one of the most feared and richest men in the world. Though, It came at a high price. For all his concerted effort, much blood was spilled. Blinded by his own ambition, he thought nothing of ordering the death of countless judges, politicians and policemen. In the end, it would all come back to haunt him. That which goes around...

Exiled, Pablo could have taken refuge in a number of countries that had no extradition with the United States. He might have lived out the remainder of his days a wealthy man - anywhere, but not Columbia. No, not Pablo. He chose to return to his homeland. Thought he was indestructible - untouchable. He'd never leave his homeland again.

Public sentiment eventually turned against Pablo. No longer a friend but foe to his countrymen, his stage had disappeared. Vigilantism had emerged with a group known as Los Pepes. Death squads responded quickly and viciously. Revenge had been swiftly taken by killing known associates of the drug kingpin. Anyone with ties to him such as friends, family, cartel members, policemen, lawyers, money launderers and bankers were mercilessly slaughtered. For every vengeful act of violence committed by him, they responded immediately in kind. Eye for an eye. For days on end, the streets of Columbia ran red.

Pablo was no longer being sought for his arrest. Those days were over. Although not officially acknowledged, a death warrant had been issued for him. By this time, America had joined the hunt. The day of reckoning was finally served by the Colombian national police with a hail of bullets that had the name Pablo Escobar personally engraved upon them. Final words could be heard shouted from a rooftop, "Vivá Colombia! We have just killed Pablo Escobar!" His reign of terror had finally come to a crushing end.

Though over two decades has passed since his death, Colombia carries a large scar across its nation. For some, the nightmare is over, For others, it will last a lifetime.

it is one of the best books I have ever read It interesting and there's nothing more better than thies book.

Najpierw wydawała mi się nudna, ale potem wszystko nabrało tempa. Naprawdę przyjemna książka, pomijając dziwne upodobania Escobara do 14-latek.

This well told, if a bit over-told, story of Pablo Escobar, the man who held a country of 27 million hostage, raises interesting questions for those of us living in post 9-11 times. On the one-hand, the author makes very clear that this wanna-be Latin Robin Hood, who built apartments and soccer stadiums for the poor with his $5-$10 billion in drug money, was nevertheless a very bad man who killed presidential candidates, the prosecutors who investigated him, the police who accompanied them and the judges who later issued warrants for his arrest relating to such murders. And all that was before lunch. Escobar also engaged in the wholesale murder of his drug-dealing competitors, hired Communist insurgent groups to hold the entire Colombian Supreme Court hostage (which resulted in the death of half the justices), held the rich and famous hostage (and killed many of them) and detonated car bombs throughout Bogota. He was effectively a combination of Al Queda and Al Capone.

On the other hand, the response of the Colombian government is somewhat disturbing. Completely unable to stop him, the Colombian President decided upon a new strategy which abandoned any pretense of constitutionality and instead relied upon an unholy alliance of other drug-dealers, murderers, rogue police units and American Special Forces to kill all of Escobar's family, friends, business associates, attorneys and accountants in an attempt to hurt his ability to finance his private war and thereby flush him out. While the strategy ultimately worked, the question is whether the price of success was too high. The book never really grapples with this issue, but we need to since 9-11 saw Congress and most of the Country ready to cede all power to the President with their blessing to do anything necessary to make sure it never happened again. This makes the story a timely read for all of us.

Interesting book to read while traveling in Colombia, to refresh my memory about the history of drug trafficking and terrorism in the country. While reading the detailed arc I was reminded of each Narcos' series episode I'd watched a while back, and got some additional details, including on how the political and security context Pablo Escobar was born into heavily impacted his development as a criminal, a refresh on how complicated was the connection between the government and Los Pepes or how key the development of tecnology was to finally catch him.
Engaging and easy to ready.

watched the Narcos series on Netflix and this is really worth it. surely it's more accurate than the series. here i realized the amount of things they changed to make the series more dramatic.