Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar was one of the principal leaders of the Medellín cartel, an organisation which built a transnational network for producing, transporting and distributing cocaine to the United States and other markets.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

After adoption of a constitutional framework prohibiting extradition of Colombians, Escobar surrenders in June 1991. He is held at La Catedral prison, built with highly favourable conditions and soon criticised as a facility from which he retained substantial freedom.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Following an internal dispute over money, traffickers Fernando Galeano and Gerardo 'Kiko' Moncada are killed at La Catedral along with several other men. When the government attempts to transfer Escobar to a military facility, he and several associates escape.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

Under the slogan 'We prefer a grave in Colombia to a prison in the United States', the 'Extraditables', dominated by the Medellín cartel, wage a campaign of bombings, murders, threats and kidnappings designed to force the Colombian state to abandon extradition.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

During its war against the state, the Medellín cartel pays killers to murder police officers in the city. The Truth Commission describes a campaign which causes the deaths of hundreds of law enforcement officers in Medellín around 1989–1990.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

The Extraditables kidnap several journalists and public figures, including Diana Turbay, Francisco Santos and Maruja Pachón, to pressure the government and public opinion over extradition. Diana Turbay dies during a rescue operation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

Liberal candidate Luis Carlos Galán, the favourite for the presidential election and an advocate of extraditing drug traffickers, is assassinated during a rally in Soacha. Colombian judicial decisions describe a criminal plan involving the Medellín cartel and attribute the order to Pablo Escobar.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

A powerful bomb explodes outside El Espectador's headquarters in Bogotá, destroying much of the building and injuring employees and nearby residents. The attack forms part of the cartel's campaign against the newspaper after Guillermo Cano's assassination.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Avianca Flight 203 explodes shortly after taking off from Bogotá, killing all 107 people on board and several people on the ground. US authorities treat the bombing as a Medellín cartel operation ordered by Escobar during his campaign against the Colombian state.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

A truck bomb explodes outside the headquarters of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) in Bogotá, killing dozens, injuring hundreds and causing extensive damage. The principal target is DAS director Miguel Maza Márquez, who survives.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

Guillermo Cano Isaza, director of the newspaper El Espectador and consistent critic of drug trafficking, is murdered in Bogotá. Investigations and judicial decisions attribute the crime to the Medellín cartel's organisation and identify Escobar as its instigator.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Official reports on the Palace of Justice siege describe contacts between M-19 leaders and Pablo Escobar or the Medellín cartel, as well as money transfers and joint operations in the period preceding the assault. These elements support the hypothesis of financing linked to the objective of destroying extradition files.

State of the evidence

Disputed

In 1982, Escobar obtains a seat as an alternate member of the House of Representatives through the Alternativa Liberal movement, seeking to convert his wealth and local influence into political power. Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla publicly exposes his links to drug trafficking.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, the Justice Minister who had publicly exposed Escobar and fought drug trafficking networks, is assassinated in Bogotá in April 1984. Institutional and historical accounts attribute the order to the Medellín cartel and Escobar.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated