The Pablo Problem
What to do about Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar was listed by Forbes magazine as the seventh richest man in the
world in 1989.
He started a housing development in Medellín, Colombia for the poor. He raised
money for public works – roads and electric lines. He built roller skating rinks and
soccer fields. He regularly gave away money.
In 1978, he was elected substitute city council member in Medellín. He ran for
Congress in 1982 and was elected as a substitute representative – allowed full
privileges of office and sat in when the primary representative could not attend
sessions.
Pablo founded his own newspaper, Medellín Cívica. He was a civic leader,
sponsoring art exhibitions for charity.
He started “Medellín Without Slums,” an organization to provide housing
programs for the poor.
He had lavish estates, including two in Florida. He traveled to the United States
and Europe on a regular basis.
He was a hero to many, especially in his hometown of Medellín.
Pablo used his wealth and power to battle Communist guerrillas in the
countryside, an endeavor that found favor with many.
Pablo Escobar was a car thief by the time he was twenty.
He then began selling protection from car thieves (himself included).
He used kidnapping, first as a means of debt collection, then for other
purposes.
He took advantage of the explosion of demand for cocaine in the United
States, as the drug came into vogue in the late seventies and eighties. So
much money was rolling into Colombia that bank deposits in Colombia’s
four largest cities more than doubled between 1976 and 1980.
Pablo’s method of dealing with the authorities can be summed up as plata o
plomo (silver or lead), meaning take a bribe or a bullet.
He could rationalize his business as revolutionary, striking out at the
wealthy world establishment, redistributing wealth from rich North
Americans to the poor in Colombia. That made him a kind of Robin Hood.
Still, he lived lavishly. His seventy four hundred acre ranch, called Hacienda
Los Nápoles included an airport, heliport, and roads. He had elephants,
buffaloes, lions, rhinos, gazelles, hippos, camels and ostriches. He built six
swimming pools and a number of lakes. He had a 1930s car with bullet
holes that he said Bonnie and Clyde owned.
There was too much money to spend and invest; he buried millions.
Map of Colombia, showing Medellín, Cali, and Bogotá
Extradition
In 1979, the United States and Colombia signed an extradition treaty. It stated that drug
trafficking was a crime against the United States. Those involved in the shipment of
illegal drugs could tried in the United States and imprisoned.
Pablo Escobar was most concerned with the prospect of facing the U.S. justice system;
so much of what he would do from that point forward would be designed to overturn,
invalidate, avoid the terms of the treaty.
It also meant that the fate of Pablo Escobar, the leader of the Medellín cartel, was of
direct concern to the United States.
Background to U.S. involvement:
In 1982, President Reagan appointed a cabinet level task force to deal with the
issue of drug smuggling.
U.S. State Department began testing herbicides on coca fields.
Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 221 in April of 1986, which
stated that drug trafficking was a threat to national security. This opened the
door to U.S. military involvement.
After President Bush took office in 1989, the emphasis in the war on drugs
shifted from trying to keep drugs out at the borders to targeting narcotics
kingpins.
You are a civil servant in the Colombian government. Your job is top secret.
Your family thinks that you work supervising road construction and repairs, a
tedious if necessary task. In reality, you are working as an advisor to the
Colombian president and liaison between the Colombian and United States
government. Your area of expertise is drug cartels.
Your task is to provide advice as to the best way to handle the drug
trafficking problem, especially the ring leaders of the cartels. Pablo Escobar
is your main concern.
You know the importance of your job. With each decision made in each
situation, lives are at stake. In this game of chess, the stakes are deadly.
One wrong move could get a number of people killed. Still, in each situation,
you need to weigh your overall goals of crippling the cartels, restoring law
and order to your country, and satisfying the United States. This last goal is
somewhat distasteful, since it acknowledges the power of the U.S., but it is
necessary for that same reason.
It is spring 1984. Tensions between the drug cartels and the government
have been rising. Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla has been taking
aggressive action. After publicly exposing the importance of drug money
in political campaigns, he shifted to direct action by shutting down
laboratories, seizing equipment and making several arrests. Although the
arrests were low level, his actions were proving problematic for the drug
lords.
You have been working overtime lately, and you decided to take the last
week in April off.
It is April 30. The phone rings. The voice on the other end tells you
that you need to report to the office right away. Justice Minister Lara
has been assassinated. His chauffeur driven car was hit with seven
bullets shot by a motorcyclist. While you are not surprised by this,
you know that the stakes have just been raised substantially.
You gather your things, leave a note for the family claiming some
emergency road repair and head into the office.
President Belisario Betancur
asks you to draft a statement for
him to make in response to
Lara’s assassination.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. We are aggressively seeking
the trigger man. The shooter will be brought to justice.”
“This is obviously a response to Minister Lara’s actions against the drug
lords, but this is a Colombian problem and we will deal with it internally. I
see no reason to change my stance against extradition. We will seek
justice in Colombia.”
“Lara’s death must not be in vain. The country is in a state of siege. We
will take the appropriate actions against those ultimately responsible, not
just the person who pulled the trigger. I will honor the extradition treaty
with the Americans. We will extradite Colombians.”
This is a safe but very weak response.
The President is disappointed in you.
He tells you to go back to your office
and draft a stronger response. The
country demands more. You need to be
more in tune to the nation. Playing it
safe might cost you your job.
Lose 5 points.
This is not a bad response. At least you are
acknowledging the people behind the assassination.
It serves them notice that the President will stay the
course. They have not won the war yet. It buys
some time without committing too much.
Unfortunately President Betancur is tired of the
status quo and is outraged at this level of violence.
He believes that he needs to step up the response,
and he believes that he needs U.S. help to do it.
With the deep pockets of the drug lords and the
choice of plata o plomo, he does not think that
Colombia can solve this crisis alone. And, the way
to gain U.S. help is by supporting extradition.
You do not lose points, but you do not gain any with
this response either.
This is exactly what is needed, a strong
response that will bring the U.S. on board
and serve notice to the traffickers that the
Colombian government will not back down
in the face of such violence. To give in
now would be to surrender the control of
the country to the drug lords. By changing
his stance to support extradition,
President Betancur is guaranteeing the
help of the U.S. and striking fear in the
hearts of the traffickers who dread
extradition to the U.S. more than anything
else.
Great job. You gain 10 points for your bold
and timely effort.
As a result of Betancur’s strong
response, the major drug traffickers,
including Pablo Escobar, the Ochoa
brothers and Carlos Lehder took
refuge in Panama.
Almost immediately, Pablo begins to
try to negotiate a return to Colombia.
He does not want to live in exile or
on the run.
President Betancur asks your advice
again.
Negotiate with Escobar. You actually have
some leverage here. You may be able to
control his future actions, and Colombia has
had enough violence.
Refuse to negotiate. After all, he is clearly
uncomfortable. Maybe the U.S. will be able
to get him extradited from Panama, and then
he would be their problem.
As distasteful as this option is, President
Betancur agrees that it is certainly worth
pursuing. It does not hurt to see what can be
negotiated. Putting Pablo Escobar behind
bars would definitely be an accomplishment.
There is a chance then that the government
would be able to control him and maybe gain
some ground in the war on drugs. It might
also appease the Americans.
Good advice, at least it seems to be. The jury
is still out. Your score remains unchanged.
A noble and courageous stance to take. It
would certainly make a statement that the
regime would not negotiate with criminals.
Unfortunately, President Betancur does not
see things your way. Others have told him
persuasively that heroic stances will not move
his efforts forward. He knows that there is a
time for bold statements and a time for
pragmatic responses. He suggests that you be
more flexible in your approach. Still, he knows
that the proposition of negotiating with
someone as powerful as Escobar is risky.
Still, it is too early to tell how this will play out.
Your score remains unchanged.
This was one time that Betancur wishes he had listened to you. The
outrage caused by his negotiating with Escobar was immediate and strong.
He had to back down almost immediately.
Eventually, Pablo returned to Colombia, his power base, without a deal. He
would continue to fight extradition with violence and occasionally offer to
turn himself in if the government would agree not to extradite him.
The judge investigating him for Lara’s murder was killed in July 1985. Pablo
went after the judicial system aggressively. In November, four judges
working on the extradition issue were assassinated. Pablo reportedly paid
guerrillas to storm the Supreme Court demanding renunciation of the
extradition treaty and burning records, including Pablo’s records. A
thoroughly intimidated Supreme Court would later invalidate the extradition
treaty on a technicality. This would prove to be only temporary as the new
President would sign the treaty again.
Pablo kept the heat on. By the end of 1987, the bodies piled up to the point
that the U.S. Ambassador warned that the government was in grave
danger. Colombian President Barco declared martial law.
In August 1989, the
assassination of popular
presidential candidate Luis
Carlos Gálan, who favored
extradition, led to a strong
reaction from President Barco
who issued an emergency
order reinstating extradition,
which had been annulled by the
Colombian Supreme Court.
Pablo Escobar was behind the
killing of Gálan.
Three months later, Pablo’s
men blew an Avianca airliner up
in an effort to kill Gálan’s
replacement, César Gaviria. He
was not on board but 110
people, including two
Americans, were killed. Clearly
a danger to American citizens,
Pablo Escobar became a
military target.
It is 1990. You have survived another administration.
Your cover has been maintained (a small miracle) and
you have proven valuable at different points in time.
Newly elected President Gaviria asks you for advice
about how he should approach the drug problem. He
has been perceived as a hard liner, but now that he is
in power, he is not sure what approach to take.
With kidnappings and bombings reaching the wealthy and powerful,
you should play hardball and target the immediate families of the drug
leaders and the leaders themselves. You are getting a lot of financial
and logistical aid from the U.S.
People are tired of the violence. Escalating the war against the
traffickers has only brought more violence. They have too much money
and influence. You will never clean the government out of people on
their payroll. You may as well try to negotiate. Use extradition to your
advantage. Also the war against Pablo has hurt him financially.
The public has tired of the violence. The targets have gotten wider. A
large amount of funds and covert surveillance equipment and
expertise from the United States have failed to capture the
perpetrators or stem the violence. Gaviria’s hard line stance probably
cost him more votes than it won him. This is not the right time for this
approach. A change is necessary.
Lose 10 points.
Colombians just want peace.
They are through being
outraged for the moment. They
are simply too tired from all of
the bombings, killings and
kidnappings. You should try to
negotiate some form of peace.
Pablo seems ready for a deal.
By using extradition, which he
fears the most, particularly after
his colleague Carlos Lehder
was sentenced to 135 years in
U.S. prison following extradition
and trial, you can probably gain
favorable terms. It is worth a try.
The crackdown has only
brought more violence and
death to all sides.
Gain 10 points for your astute
analysis.
June 19, 1991
•The Constitutional Assembly in Colombia voted to ban extradition in the
new Constitution, which would go into effect on July 5. There were
objections from the U.S. government and the Gaviria administration, but
the vote was 50-13.
•Pablo Escobar surrendered to the Colombian government. He was taken
to a partially constructed “prison” built especially for his imprisonment. He
had visited the site a few weeks earlier with his brother and buried an
arsenal of weapons on the property, asserting that some day they would
be needed.
•To the media, Pablo described his surrender as an act of peace. In the
deal, all of the killings and kidnappings were ignored. He pled guilty to
brokering a French drug deal for his dead cousin Gustavo.
You tell the President what a great victory this is. Now that he has Escobar in jail, he can control
him.
You take an unpopular stand today, noting that Pablo has gotten what he wants – a safe house,
no threat of extradition, a guilty plea on a fairly minor charge; you do not trust him. You tell the
President that he has actually lost this round and will have to fight another.
You have shown that you are
optimistic and naïve. There is no way
that Pablo Escobar would have
surrendered unless he was sure that
it would suit him. He has many
government and military personnel
on his payroll. He has set up the
prison so that it resembles more of a
country club. At best, you can really
consider this house arrest.
He goes to nightclubs, shopping
malls, and soccer matches. Prison
guards act as waiters, serving food
and drinks to Pablo and his
handpicked fellow inmates. This is a
slap in the government’s face.
Lose 5 points and gain a new boss.
While initially the president is unhappy
with what he perceives as disloyalty, it
shortly becomes clear that your analysis
was on target. Pablo is living a lavish
lifestyle, doing much of what he wants,
including leaving prison to attend soccer
matches and nightclubs and even shop.
Under government protection, when the
guards are not acting as servants, he is
able to rebuild his business with some
minor inconveniences. He has to send
messages by trained pigeons, but even
out of prison his communications were
monitored, and he had to stay one step
ahead of the law.
Gain 10 points and a new assistant.
“The Escobar Problem”
President Gaviria has assigned you and a new assistant justice
minister named Eduardo Mendoza to deal with what he has called
“the Escobar problem.” The main tasks were to find a serious charge
that could stick (all Escobar had to do was get the one charge
overturned and he would be free) and to build a real prison for him.
You consult Mendoza about where to focus your energy. He argues
that the prison is the priority.
You agree with him and get working on that task. After all, it is the simpler of
the two, and you have to be seen as making some progress.
You stick your neck out and disagree, arguing that without a serious charge,
the prison would be unnecessary.
The obstacles are greater than you could have imagined. Nobody wanted the
job. The president had to intervene personally to get the funds approved by the
controller. Workers had to be recruited from a distant region so that they would
not have ties to Pablo. Pablo’s men harassed workers on a regular basis, since
the new prison was being built around the first one.
By the summer of 1992 construction was underway and it seemed that the two
of you had overcome every obstacle posed by Pablo and his far reaching
connections to get the job done.
Despite the frustrations that Pablo’s luxuries were actually legally approved and
that nobody wanted to confront him about things such as parties within the
prison, complete with alcohol and prostitutes, the fact that the new prison was
being built was somewhat of a victory.
Gain 10 points for overcoming the bureaucracy owned partially by Pablo.
You make some progress on this front
but not much. You got little
cooperation from the police, who felt
betrayed by the deal. Nobody in the
judicial system wanted to prosecute
Pablo who had ordered the killings of
so many cops and judges over the
years.
Lose 5 points for wasting valuable
time on this task.
It is Wed. July 21, 1992. President Gaviria’s
office calls and asks you to stop by the
Presidential Palace. Mendoza is very excited
about this summons to see the President.
You are tired and would rather be home with
your family. They no longer truly believe that
you work so hard on Colombia’s road
system, but they are too afraid to ask what
really causes you to work such long hours.
The pressure from the Americans along with the humiliating realization that they
are right about the joke that Gaviria calls Escobar’s imprisonment has caused
the President to approve a removal of the prisoner from his current facility to a
jail in Bogotá. The last straw had been the executions that Pablo had carried out
against associates that he suspected were skimming profits. Along with all of his
other problems, Gaviria now faced a drug war among the traffickers.
Gaviria insists that one of you go to oversee the operation. Despite the gleam in
his eye, Mendoza defers to you to make the decision.
You decide to go yourself. This is a career making opportunity. It means coming out about your real
work, but you have worked for so long in obscurity. This might be a chance to get some credit for your
hard work. You already know that Pablo and his associates know what you really do for a living. There
are not many secrets from him.
You can see that Mendoza really wants to go. Besides, you would love nothing more than to spend a
quiet evening at home with your family. They would most certainly learn about your real job. It would
cause them to worry and fear for your safety. You have managed to stay alive in part because you have
worked behind the scenes. Such a public appearance means that Pablo would take notice, and you
would become a target. After some thought, you tell Mendoza that he can go.
When you arrive at the prison, you find the general in charge. He tells you that
his orders are only to surround the prison. He knows nothing about transferring
Escobar to Bogotá. After some frustrating and confusing calls to the capital,
you decide to take charge and go inside. Unfortunately, you discover who
really runs the prison when Pablo’s men surround you, flash their automatic
weapons and detain you. You are now a hostage.
Lose 5 points for putting yourself in danger and 5 more points for ruining the
President’s planned trip to Spain.
When you hear that Mendoza went into
the prison and was taken hostage by
Pablo’s men, you are worried about your
colleague but can’t help breathing a sigh
of relief that you were not faced with the
task of executing your orders while the
army forces delayed and Pablo was able
to see what was happening and plan for
his defense.
You cannot honestly say that it would not
have been you fearing for your life inside
Pablo’s prison. Mendoza had a tough
choice to make.
You find out that the general outside the
prison refused to attack. The President had
to send a special force, which worries you
because this unit is known for ferocity and
incompetence, a bad combination. You
make small talk with your guards, Pablo’s
men, about diets, healthy meal choices and
other seemingly unimportant things given
the circumstances.
You are braced for the worst when the
special unit attacks, but you only have to
deal with the second worst possible
outcome. You have survived the attack, but
Pablo Escobar has escaped from the
prison.
President Gaviria is furious. You fear you
will be the scapegoat.
Lose another 5 points.
You find out that the general outside
the prison refused to attack. The
President had to send a special
force, which worries you because
this unit is known for ferocity and
incompetence, a bad combination.
Mendoza survives the attack but the
unthinkable happens – Pablo
Escobar escapes. You know how
angry President Gaviria must be. You
are glad you declined the
assignment, but with some dread
you head to the office to see how
your job has been changed by these
events.
Leading the charge into the prison proved to be an especially bad decision.
Pablo’s escape was on everyone’s mind. Someone had to be responsible.
Both you and your colleague Mendoza are asked to resign. Gaviria decides
to clean house, even though only one of you was directly responsible for the
decision.
It turns out that Pablo and his men walked out of the prison by guards who
did not stop them. All they had to do was cut a hole in the wire fence and
walk out.
To add insult to injury, Pablo publicly denied taking any hostages. Suspicion
and accusations fly. You and Mendoza are unable to get jobs; in fact, the only
option seems to be to leave the country and start life again. You go to the
United States, New York City specifically.
You are forced to watch the end of the game from the sidelines. You cannot
help but think that you could be of some help, but you can only tell your
family and friends what you might have done.
Thanks to some friends on the inside, they keep you posted on the latest
developments in the hunt for Pablo.
When word gets out about what authorities found at the prison, people are well
and truly outraged. He had a photo of Che Guevara on the wall, alongside an
illustration from Hustler magazine showing Pablo and friends having an orgy in
prison while throwing darts at a picture of President Bush on a tv screen. There
were also photos of Pablo dressed up as Pancho Villa and as a Prohibition era
gangster.
Given the revelations about his incarceration, the reality of his escape and the
illegality of extradition, it became clear that the task was not to capture Pablo
Escobar but to kill him.
The Colombian government would take full advantage of U.S. cooperation in
this endeavor.
One tactic the U.S. Embassy wants to employ is reward money for tips.
You think that this is a good idea, since it will be an incentive for people to provide information. It will be
especially helpful if the United States throws relocation to the U.S. into the deal.
You think this is a bad idea, a waste of time. Pablo will be able to outbid the government. Coupled with
the fear he instills, you are not likely to get much useful information. Anyone close enough to him will be
controlled by him. All in all it is a waste of time.
The Colombian government did not
think this was a good idea. The U.S.
Embassy went ahead and did it anyway.
The program did lead to the death of
one of Pablo’s trusted assassins in what
is known as a “gun battle with police” in
October 1992. It did not lead to Pablo,
but rather escalated the violence. The
result was mixed at best.
By the end of 1992, twelve major
players in Pablo’s organization had
been killed in “gun battles” with the
Search Bloc formed to hunt down
Pablo.
On the other hand, Pablo was exacting
revenge by killing policemen and
members of the Search Bloc whose
identities were supposed to be secret.
People were growing tired of the
violence – the killings and the bombings
orchestrated by Pablo.
In response to the violence a vigilante group, known as Los Pepes
(People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar), begins to target Pablo’s family
members. The Americans are not displeased with this development, but
then again, it is not their country. A friend in the government still values
your opinion, although you left in disgrace. He asks what you think
should be done about Los Pepes.
They should be encouraged. After all, Pablo is the target. Other methods have proven
ineffective. If these people can get close to Pablo and cause harm to his family, his one
vulnerability, he may make mistakes. The government can claim plausible deniability, since
Los Pepes is an independent group.
They should be discouraged. Even if they are successful in helping the government get to
Pablo, they are likely members of a rival cartel or disgruntled members of his organization. At
any rate, encouraging an extralegal force such as this may lead to bigger problems after
Pablo is gone. Someday the government might need to hunt down Los Pepes.
Take no stance at all. That will enable the government to reap the benefits of the actions of
Los Pepes but then will be able to turn its forces against the group if it gets out of hand.
This is a bad idea. It is easy for the
Americans to think that this death squad
is useful, but they will not necessarily be
around to pick up the pieces. In a
country where justice and information
are readily bought and sold, it is
impossible to support the group and
claim that you are not. You are not
exactly sure who is involved but you do
know that there is a good chance that
the government will have to go after
members of Los Pepes at some point.
Lawlessness cannot be allowed to rule,
even if the effect is helpful in the short
term.
Lose 5 points for shortsightedness.
This is a difficult option, but it is also
necessary if there is any hope of the
government coming out of this whole
ordeal with more rather than less
control. It is the power that Pablo wields
that makes him so dangerous. It is
important to take a stance against Los
Pepes. They may be doing the
government’s dirty work, but the
government is going to have to win this
one in order for it to have control and
credibility once the endgame with Pablo
plays out.
Gain 10 points for your courageous and
forward thinking position.
Tempting as this is, it a
cowardly option. The
government would essentially
be ceding control to Los
Pepes. They may assist in
the short run by helping to
get Escobar, but then who
will help to get them. If the
government fails to take a
stance, it will lose credibility.
People already have little
faith in the government.
Allowing a vigilante group to
command center stage will
be a further blow to
sovereignty.
Lose 5 points for cowardice.
It actually takes several months, but President Gaviria takes a stand.
Amidst mounting evidence that there were police and Search Bloc
connections to the group, along with the brutal torture and murder of
one of Pablo’s lawyers, Gaviria offered a $1.4 million reward for the
arrest of the members and sent a note through a top police
commander that he was cracking down.
Los Pepes responded with an announcement that they were
disbanding.
The killings continued.
Meanwhile, the group searching for Pablo monitored
phone conversations between Pablo and his son
Juan Pablo, who were in constant contact as Pablo
was on the run. He was losing much in the battle,
but he was most concerned about his family.
Officials knew that their best hope of finding Pablo
was through them.
It just happened that every time they thought they
had him cornered, they stormed the house, only to
find it empty.
There was much frustration in the ranks. The press
was exasperated. Allegations of corruption among
the Search Bloc inevitably surfaced.
There was disagreement in the government about
what to do. The attorney general wanted to allow
Pablo’s family to leave Colombia in exchange for
Pablo’s surrender. Gaviria wanted no parts of that
deal.
December 2, 1993
It was a set of reporter’s questions that
tripped Pablo up. He often used the media to
get his messages across. Juan Pablo had a
list of questions from a reporter. Pablo
arranged a time to answer them for Juan
Pablo on the phone. He was on long enough
for the search team to locate the signal and
close in. Pablo Escobar was killed trying to
flee from one of his safe houses.
Mission accomplished. There was
celebration, much celebration.
AFTERMATH
The cocaine traffic continued. Pablo’s death merely passed
leadership onto new people. The Cali cartel replaced the Medellín
cartel. Once the Cali cartel was broken, smaller decentralized
organizations took over. To this day, the Colombians receive an
enormous amount of U.S. aid largely because of the drug problem.
Also, while this war on drugs has been going on, there has also been
another war going on, one that has many sides. There are Marxist
guerrillas, in different groups, working to overthrow the government.
There are also paramilitary groups working outside the government
to stop them. The people of Colombia are caught in the middle of
these groups. Drug trade is one of the ways that these groups fund
themselves, but it is even more complicated than that.
Scoring:
40-50: You earn reinstatement and a promotion. You
understand the dynamics and the challenges. If you survive,
you could be President someday.
20-40: You have managed to get your job back. Overall, you
have provided enough good advice to remain a civil servant.
Less than 20: You have been fired once and for all. You do not
have what it takes to work for the Colombian government. You
might consider moving to the United States for good.
Bibliography:
Bowden, Mark. Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw. New York:
Penguin Books, 2002.
Bushnell, David. The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself. Berkley:
University of California Press, 1993.