Killing Pablo

Philly.com ^ | Posted on Tue, Nov. 20, 2001 | Phiily.com

[Hacksaw]

Escobar's rise to power: From small-time gangster to the terror of Colombia

Pablo Escobar was arguably the richest and most violent criminal in history. Forbes Magazine in 1989 listed him as the seventh-richest man in the world.

A small-time gangster and car thief from Medellin, the second-largest city in Colombia, Escobar violently consolidated the cocaine industry there in the late 1970s. Elected as an alternate to Colombia's Congress in 1983, Escobar enjoyed widespread popularity among the poor in Colombia, especially in his home state of Antioquia.

He turned his violent methods against the state in 1984, when Colombia began cracking down on the cocaine exporters and extraditing them to the United States for trial.

His campaign of murder, kidnapping, bombing and bribery from then until his death in 1993 forced a constitutional crisis in Colombia. He cowed the government into banning extradition, and his murder campaign against judges and prosecutors so intimidated the nation that it abandoned trial by jury and began appointing anonymous, "faceless" judges to prosecute crimes.

At the height of his power in the late 1980s, Escobar and his Medellin drug cartel controlled as much as 80 percent of the multibillion-dollar export of Colombian cocaine to the United States.

Escobar was blamed for assassinating three of the five candidates for Colombian president in 1989, and for instigating a takeover of the Palace of Justice in Bogota in 1986. More than 90 people died in the subsequent siege, including 11 Supreme Court justices.

When one of Escobar's bombs brought down an Avianca Airliner in Colombia in November 1989, killing 107 people, he became one of the most feared terrorists in the world.

Men working for Escobar were caught that same year trying to buy Stinger antiaircraft missiles in Miami.

A heavy pot-smoker, Escobar cultivated a relaxed, informal style with his friends and associates, but he was so vicious to his enemies that he was feared by everyone. In his battle with Colombian police, he placed a bounty on the head of officers in Medellin, paying higher rewards for killing those of greater rank. By the time of his death at age 44, Dec. 2, 1993, Escobar was considered responsible for thousands of deaths in Colombia, yet he was mourned publicly by large crowds in his home city.

[MrLeRoy]

you druggies want to inflict a plague of drugs

Did those who campaigned to end Prohibition "want to inflict a plague of alcohol"?

[toothless]

"Typical druggie propaganda. Blame the WOD even though Escobar rose to power BEFORE the WOD began!"

Right, because coke was made illegal in 1973 when Nixion started the WOD.

Nope, wrong again.

Paublo would have been nothing but a small time carjacker if it wasn't for the power his coke money created.

[toothless]

" I just dont understand something, cocaine must be stopped."

It will never be stoped by making it illegal.

Wasn't it Will Rogers that said we should outlaw education because within five years we will have the best educated population on earth?

[toothless]

'And we have a thousand fools supporting Soros in his quest for drug legalization, a new world order, a national police force, more UN power and absolute gun control.'

Always worth a laugh, thanks cin.

[LibTeeth]

The basis of moral behavior is self-control, not external control. Ever stop to wonder why God put all of these temptations on earth in the first place? It's not the role of government to be messianic and make people good. Where there are victims there are crimes, otherwise its just a crime against the state, thought crime, etc. Giving government the power to control people's states of consciuos ness is a double edged sword. A government that can keep you from ingesting conscious altering substances could just as easily lay claim to promoting their use. Given the promulgation of Ritalin (a cocaine analog) by the Government Run Youth Propaganda Camps, that's not so farfetched. The War on Drugs is just practice for the war on guns. Once that is done you'll see all drugs legalized to further keep the population dumbed-down, mullified, and distracted.

[cardinal4]

Doesn't the second part of your sentence contradict the first?

The point Im trying to make is,legalization will not work. Ask any recovering cocaine addict or alcoholic. Through the Grace of God, I have overcome both. At the same time I could slip right back into the self destruction that those addictions brought me to, with the ease of swatting a fly. That is the nature of addiction. It cant be regulated...period. And that is not just my opinion, at one time it was my life. So spin it anyway you want, legalization wont work, I am living proof.

[toothless]

How did you beat your addiction? Did jail help you?

[MrLeRoy]

Seems to me that, if anything, cocaine addicts are living proof that ILlegalization doesn't work.

[cardinal4]

No, I woke up one day after a bad drunk and said no more. But jail had been in my past for the neglected items due to substance abuse; suspended drivers license, Fail to appear, etc. And thats the point, guys. The nature of addiction is it becomes all about the drug. Nothing else matters, I will be kept awake for the rest of my life remebering the things I have said and done as result of addiction. Legalization will add exponentially, scumbags like myself, into society, because of the availability of the drugs that are illegal now. I dont have the answer, guys, and I have revealed way more of myself that ever intended, just take the word of someone who has been there; Legalization is not the answer.

[cardinal4]

Cocaine addiction knows no legalities. It will be addictive legal or not.

[steve-b]

Blame the WOD even though Escobar rose to power BEFORE the WOD began!

Escobar was old enough to rise to power before the prohibition laws were passed about ninety years ago? What is he, a vampire?

[toothless]

Thank you for sharing, and congratulations on getting clean.

[cardinal4]

Have a nice day.

[cinFLA]

Perhaps you should read something OTHER than your pro-drug websites.

[cinFLA]

Perhaps you should read something OTHER than your pro-drug websites.

[toothless]

"Escobar was old enough to rise to power before the prohibition laws were passed about ninety years ago? What is he, a vampire? "

Yea, smoking pot turned him into one.

[Howlin]

I'm all about The History Channel now. I flipped past this last night; I won't do it again.

I do have a question though: in the last few weeks, I have seen or heard a story about France hiding intelligence they have had about AQ being active in France, up to and including the manufacturing and distribution of ricin; did I hear that on THC in one of those Saddam documentaries?

Or did I hear that guy Monsour on Fox say that.

If anybody knows.

[cinFLA]

Always worth a laugh, thanks cin.

Not a laughing matter. I have no desire to live under the new world order you are supporting.

[cinFLA]

("The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself.")

bite me

Obviously not a post from one who has the capability of thinking for himself, but one who is saturated with pro-dope propaganda.

[Fury]

bucephalus?

It went to a horse?