Pablo Escobar

This article may potentially contain spoilers on Narcos. Please do not read the article, unless you have finished watching the TV Series.

"*My eyes are everywhere. That means you guys can't move a finger in all of Antioquia without me knowing it.*"
-Pablo to DAS Officers
**Pablo Escobar** is a main character in the Netflix series *Narcos*. He was the founder and leader of the Medellin Cartel. Pablo was portrayed by Wagner Moura

## Biography

### Early Life

Pablo was born in Rionegro, Colombia, on December 1, 1949, to Abel de Jesús Dari Escobar and Hermilda Gaviria. At some point when he was young, he and his mother moved to Medellin, where he spent most of his life. By the 1970's, he had already made a name for himself in Medellin's underground, smuggling products like marijuana and television sets from neighboring countries. At 27, he married Tata Escobar, who was only 15 at the time.

### Criminal Career

#### Entering the Cocaine Trade

Escobar was introduced to cocaine sometime in the 1970's, when his cousin Gustavo Gaviria introduced him to Mateo Moreno, better known as "Cockroach." With the help of his mother and cousin, Escobar began to build up his cocaine business. Through Lion, Escobar was able to introduce cocaine to Miami, and soon was transporting it there through Carlos Lehder's planes. He soon allied himself with José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Fabio and Jose Ochoa, much to the distaste of Cockroach, who was worried he would get cut out of the profits. In retaliation, Cockroach leaked Escobar's smuggling routes to DAS Agent Herrera, who then intercepted Escobar's shipments in exchange for splitting the plunder with Cockroach. Cockroach also began dealing in Miami through Hermann Zapata. After a brief stay in prison, resulting in a mugshot that would go on record, Escobar bribed Herrera into telling him his informant. As a result, both Cockroach and Zapata were executed on Escobar's orders. (Descenso)

After the Marxist guerilla group M-19 kidnaps the sister of The Ochoa Brothers, Pablo takes the chance and forms the Medellin Cartel, which unites all the narcos together, promising them that he will find the kidnappers and kill them, and he does, killing most of the M-19 group, one of them survives and goes to meet Pablo himself, Pablo's henchmen catch him, he gives the Sword of Simon Bolivar, which the M-19 group stole themselves, to Escobar. Escobar sets him free, and lets him live. (The Sword of Simón Bolivar)

### Political career

Escobar continues to move away from his drug trafficking operation and into the political sphere. He tells Valeria that he wants help getting into Congress, where he can really make his changes happen, giving his ideas a public and official forum. She introduces him to Fernando Duque, a lawyer and lobbyist for the New Liberals, a party that may suit Escobar’s needs. A $300,000 bribe helps Escobar get his foot in the door, as the Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara, agrees to let Escobar into the party, having him run as an alternate to an already-placed candidate. Poison is all set to deliver the bribe money to Duque, but his plans quickly change as Murphy and Pena coordinate with Carrillo to set up a roadblock under the assumption that Poison is delivering cocaine. Escobar finds out about it from Carrera and orders Poison back to his house, meaning that Escobar’s plans for Congress are still in place. (The Men of Always)

The U.S. has introduced new extradition laws, meaning that anyone caught smuggling drugs into Miami, or anyone who is even associated with bringing drugs to the United States, can be extradited to the U.S. for punishment. Escobar’s hoping to get out ahead of this new law, before it effects his operation, so he calls another meeting of the leaders. He proposes they form another group, this one to fight against extradition. The other leaders are still pissed about Escobar’s foray into Congress, but they back him here, knowing what needs to be done. Thus, they form Los Extraditables. Because Escobar has no political power anymore, his men begin terrorizing the judges who extradite the smugglers. The judges in turn begin wearing masks in court when they’re sentencing smugglers so as to keep their identities secret. (The Palace in Flames)

### Fighting against Colombia

Now that extradition is officially on the table and Escobar has been chased out of Colombia by the DEA and CIA, presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán can focus on his campaign. He has a speechwriter crafting pro-extradition speeches for his rallies, as he’s refusing to back down from his stance against the narcos, no matter the danger. The danger is clear and present though, as Galán is murdered at one of his rallies, just as he takes the stage to speak out against the narcos. Escobar’s offered to pay Colombia’s national debt in exchange for amnesty, but the government refuses. Escobar and the cartel are stuck in Panama, and nobody is happy about it. Tata is especially unhappy. With her support, he decides to fight back. After he has Galán murdered, much to the chagrin of Gustavo, he assures the cartel that they can return to Colombia and take their country back. At the funeral for Galán, his son urges his dad’s speechwriter, Dr. César Gaviria, to take up his cause and become the new face of the campaign. Gaviria seems reluctant, mostly because he’s in a tough spot. While contemplating his decision, he gets a message from Escobar, courtesy of Valeria and Fernando. The message is that he either lets the narcos go about their illegal business or they will come after his family. (There Will Be a Future)

With extradition now on the table and Horacio Carrillo, the commander of the Search Bloc, a part of the Columbian police intended on catching Escobar, declaring war, Escobar has started paying his men to kill government officials, police officers, soldiers, etc. While those officers are part of Escobar’s problem, his biggest political threat is still Gaviria, who’s running for President on a pro-extradition platform. Steve Murphy turns his attention to a man they call The Spaniard. There are photos of him being picked up from the airport by Poison, they find out that the Spaniard is known for building bombs that take out high-level political leaders. And as it turns out, Escobar has hired the Spaniard to build a bomb that will kill Gaviria, with that danger imminent, Gaviria’s wife is sent to the U.S. for safekeeping, but the potential president refuses to stop his campaign. The candidate is set to fly to Cali for a campaign trip, but Murphy has a bad feeling about it. He wants to convince Gaviria to stay, but that might be a problem. The candidate is set to fly to Cali for a campaign trip, but Murphy has a bad feeling about it. He wants to convince Gaviria to stay, Escobar has recruited a young man named Jaime to go to Cali to record a conversation. He’s exploited the young man’s need for money and security, sending him to die. Jaime doesn’t know that; he’s just happy to be a part of the fight, which makes his inevitable demise at the end of the episode one of the more devastating deaths in a season filled with corpses. What Jaime doesn’t know is that the tape recorder he’s meant to use to record the conversation on the plane to Cali is rigged with the Spaniard’s bomb. He boards the plane thinking this will be a simple mission, but it’s a suicide mission, one that shows just how ruthless and uncaring Escobar is at this point in his life. As Gaviria missed the flight, he turns out alive. (Explosivos)

### Going to prison on his own terms

With news of the bombing spreading quickly, and Escobar’s name being thrown around as a possible suspect, it’s time for Pablo to flee. He needs to leave while all of this blows over, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be giving up his fight. He says a few tearful goodbyes to his family and assures them that everything will be okay. Rather than kill Gaviria, the bombing of the airplane actually ends up creating a groundswell of support for the candidate who’s openly spoken out against the cartel. That support leads to Gaviria being elected the 28th president of Colombia, putting him in a position of power in order to continue chasing Escobar and fighting for extradition. Gaviria decides that he doesn’t want the help of Murphy, Pena, the DEA and the CIA. He believes that he needs to distance himself from their efforts and use Colombian resources to catch Escobar. While the Medellín cartel have been moving most of their product to Miami and controlling much of the cocaine operation, there’s also another gang in town. The Cali Cartel supplies for New York, and there are rumors that they’ll soon be trying to move into Los Angeles. The Cali cartel tends to run a cleaner operation, and they see Escobar’s sloppy ways as a threat to them all. It’s all part of the continuing mistrust of Escobar within his own ranks. Now that he’s on the run he has a target on his back, and not just because of the U.S. and the Search Bloc. All the threats around him lead Escobar to seek out negotiation with Gaviria. He may be willing to turn himself in, but it’ll come at a price. Gaviria has no interest in negotiating though, refusing to play into Escobar’s hands. It’s the right decision to make, but it amplifies the war. Escobar not only sends Poison to find Natalie, Jaime’s wife and one of the loose ends that could tie him to the plan bombing, but also has his men kidnap the families of influential Colombians, be it politicians or journalists. Rather than pile up the bodies, Escobar wants to “influence” the politicians. He wants to negotiate terms, and he’s going to use hostages as leverage. Once he’s kidnapped many members of influential families, he sends Fernando to negotiate with the president. He brings Gaviria Escobar’s conditions for releasing the hostages. Once again, Gaviria has no interest in negotiating and he sends Fernando back empty handed. Escobar kidnaps Ms. Turbay, a national reporter and daughter of the previous president. She’s valuable leverage for Escobar, knowing that her high profile and link to the president will likely force his hand in the negotiations. Gaviria still isn’t bending, even when a video of Ms. Turbay surfaces where she, under duress, says that Escobar is showing her great care and is very willing to negotiate. Former president Turbay urges Gaviria to negotiate. He initially refuses, but when Turbay says he’ll pull all his support of the president, both financially and politically, Gaviria relents. At the end of the episode, he stands alongside Gustavo, looking over the mountains as they did when they were teenagers. He says their going to live here, build an impenetrable fortress that looks over everything, where they will all be safe. (You Will Cry Tears of Blood)

## Personality

Escobar cared deeply about his family, including his wife Tata, although he would have affairs with other women, most notably Valeria Velez. He was conniving and well-informed, which allowed him to make realistic threats. He had a "silver or lead" policy, meaning a subject could either be bribed or killed. Many people chose silver, and as a result, Escobar's empire was allowed to grow unhindered during the early years. He also had a dry sense of humor; when Gustavo expressed his worry about lab workers choking on smoke, Escobar suggested they "build them a chimney".

## External links

* Pablo Escobar on Wikipedia

Associated With The Famous Notorious Gang From El Salvador "MS13" To Transport Cocaine To New York.