"You are neither good nor bad": the birth of a legend.

Since Pablo Escobar was surrounded and killed on the roof of a house in Medellín
nineteen years ago, the greatest criminal in the history of Colombia has taken on the role
of legendary characters.
Today his story is surrounded by an aura made up of stories, testimonies, rumors, lies
and exaggerations. It is said that he had bought the car in which they shot Bonnie and
Clyde, that he was the richest man in the world, that he had powers of witchcraft, or that
he offered to pay the foreign debt of Colombia in exchange for a peace and safe with
justice.
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, also known as “El Patrón del Mal” was born in
Rionegro, Antioquia, on December 1, 1949 and died in Medellín on December 2, 1993.
This man was the founder and the maximum leader of the Medellín Cartel, and in a few
years he managed to become the most powerful man in the Colombian mafia. Although
his nickname was that, it is possible to recognize many charitable works that he did,
such as building houses for the poor, as well as 70 football fields and opening a zoo to
the public.
At the height of his power, Pablo Escobar made $ 420 million a week, so some estimate
that he amassed a fortune of close to $ 15 billion. Pablo Escobar offered to pay
Colombia's foreign debt, estimated at 10 trillion dollars. He wanted to avoid extradition
to the United States and was capable of doing anything for it. Despite his terrible drug
deals, Escobar founded many programs to help people in economic need in Colombia.
He donated money to churches, hospitals, established food programs, built parks and
soccer stadiums, and created a neighborhood.
When he was young he said that if at 30 he had not earned a million pesos he would
take his life. When he turned 26 he deposited his first 100 million pesos in a Colombian
bank. At the peak of his power, and after being arrested by the police, he starred in a
cinematic escape from Envigado's “La Catedral” jail in 1992, along with nine of his
men, after starting a riot. From that moment on, the Colombian government declared
him the "number one public enemy" of the country. When he agreed to hand him over
to the Colombian authorities, he was allowed to build his own prison that had hot tubs, a
soccer field, and hired his own guards. From there he continued his criminal activities.
The authorities tried to stop he is planning by transferring him to a different cell, but he
managed to escape before doing so.
Pablo Escobar was killed on Thursday, December 2, a day after his 44th birthday. He
had celebrated his birthday by smoking marijuana, eating cake, and drinking some wine.
The head of the Medellín Cartel was killed during a "commando-type" operation
deployed by the Search Bloc, an elite group of about 1,500 Colombian police and army
personnel. He was shot three times when he had climbed onto the terrace of his house to
escape through the back of it. His body, which was barefoot and dressed only in a blue
shirt and jeans, fell to the roof of a neighboring house. He had long curly black hair and
a beard, and had a pistol beside him.
After his death, the figure of Pablo Escobar began to become a legend. Offerings began
to be deposited at his grave and he was venerated even as a saint. His name has also
inspired several books and today his figure is part of the Medellín tourist circuit, not to
mention that his lavish farm in the countryside is now a museum visited by thousands of
tourists a year. His image has been stamped on T-shirts and T-shirts, just like other
famous Latin American characters, such as Che Guevara.