Welcome to our collection of quotes by Pablo Escobar. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "The King of Cocaine," Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death—equivalent to $64 billion as of 2021—while his drug cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Born in Rionegro and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín, but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft. In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom.
In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes into the United States. Escobar's infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine and by the 1980s it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia. As a result, he quickly became one of the richest people in the world, but constantly battled rival cartels domestically and abroad, leading to massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians, making Colombia the murder capital of the world.
In the 1982 Colombian parliamentary election, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Alternative movement. Through this, he was responsible for community projects such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. However, Escobar's political ambitions were thwarted by the Colombian and U.S. governments, who routinely pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the DAS Building and Avianca Flight 203 bombings in retaliation.
In 1991, Escobar surrendered to authorities, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on a host of charges, but struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, with the ability of being housed in his own, self-built prison, La Catedral. In 1992, Escobar escaped and went into hiding when authorities attempted to move him to a more standard holding facility, leading to a nation-wide manhunt. As a result, the Medellín Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44th birthday.
Escobar's legacy remains controversial; while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, he was seen as a "Robin Hood-like" figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor. His killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people. Additionally, his private estate, Hacienda Nápoles, has been transformed into a theme park. His life has also served as inspiration for or has been dramatized widely in film, television, and in music.
It was very difficult to go farther than that in the arguments with my father because he would always have a story or a justification to tell you, which I never considered valid because there is not an excuse for violence.
I think these discussions with my father even gave the label of pacifist, particularly with my father, and he mentions this when he turns himself in to prison at La Catedral when he dedicates his action to his 14-year-old pacifist son.
Regrettably, to deactivate an entire cartel also proved to be a difficult task for my father and with all the enemies he had, even more.
It's a shame to see drug dealers enter and leave the United States as if nothing in addition to those that purchase weapons and firearms.
I am surprised that many people disregard the fact that the end for almost all drug dealers ends up being the cemetery or the jail cell, we do not know of any case where a drug dealer has retired.
No one prepares you at 7 years of age to have your father tell you he is a criminal -- you are still a kid and you are thinking about playing and having fun, things that have little to do with reality. This forces you to grow and mature before due time.
I am a free man but only partially so relative to other people in society. Why do I say partially free? Because there is only one country in the world that denies me entrance because of who my father was and that is the United States.
I am a good man and I behave well on an everyday basis. It was not a decision of waking up one day and saying I will be a good person today, problem solved, no, it has to be an everyday thing.
Clearly, something I am grateful for today is that my father had the strength to recognize and tell me about his activities instead of selling me a fabricated story. I think that helped us build a relationship based on trust.
My sister, my mother and I are great friends. We have always valued our immediate family immensely, something we learned from my father.
I did not begin to talk about peace when my father died nor did I begin to criticize him at that point -- I did this when I had him in front of me, I was one of his harshest criticizers and I never applauded his violence.
I was talking to my father via phone from my hotel room when he said I will call you right back before he hung up. 10 minutes pass and the phone rings again. I thought it was him but it was a journalist telling me my father had died.
If I were paying to display images of my father like Netflix does in the United States, I am sure I would face legal sanctions and I would even be killed for doing it. And Netflix receives applause instead of criticism for it.
What I criticize is the message that the United States is sending to the youth of the world -- to those of us who invite people to leave the ways of violence and the drug trade, we are not given a visa but those that sell drugs and weapons, yes.
My father would be proud, he would hug me and he would be sitting front-row at all the events where I talk to the youth about not repeating Pablo Escobar's story because I am a consequence of what he did and I have not changed my stance on violence since we talked about it.
In a way, my father Pablo Escobar reached a certain degree of sincerity that I became to know and I would even say appreciate because I would have rather had my father treat me like this rather than as an idiot that would never have any idea about what was happening around us.
I would go to the office to visit my father Pablo Escobar and regardless of who he was meeting, he would drop everything to receive me in his office. In the series, the priorities that my father demonstrates are completely inverted and untrue.
In reality, my father Pablo Escobar always interrupted others to be with his family. My father's priority was always the family.
I am not allowed to enter American territory simply because I was born the son of Pablo Escobar and apparently that implies that I inherit my father's crimes. Not that I want a visa now, I don't care anymore, I have been to the United States before.
Pablo Escobar always told me that the day he used the phone would be his last day, something I had very clear while I was talking to him.
I think Pablo Escobar wasted an incredibly opportunity which was when he stayed at the prison he made, La Catedral. It was the one chance that the government and the people of Colombia gave him to confess his illicit activities and to remain in one place with very favorable conditions.
Yes, of course my father harmed and caused a lot of damage but both stories are true. He did things to help and destroy Colombia, both are true.
What we experience in Colombia is fratricide, we fight ourselves and it demonstrates the priority of hatred over peace and reconciliation.
The pictures I have been sent that display my father in places around the world such as the metro in Barcelona or downtown Los Angeles, I cannot understand the amount of publicity that has been given to my father in addition to the message that is spread because of this.
My whole life I saw how the violence my father created had come back to my family and I thought that I would only make things worse for my mother and my sister if I sought to avenge my father. I had to dare to take a path of peace.
Sure, at that age of 7 you may have seen movies with guns and crime but by then I also knew something strange was happening in my family because it all changed drastically after the killing of Rodrigo Lara.
Sometimes I feel like God…when I order someone killed -- they die the same day.
Only those who went hungry with me and stood by me when I went through a bad time at some point in life will eat at my table.
There are two hundred million idiots, manipulated by a million intelligent men.
I prefer to be in the grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the United States.