PABLO ESCOBAR

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, dubbed "the king of cocaine", was the founder and sole leader of the
Medelln Cartel. Escobar was born in Rionegro, Colombia, and started smuggling drugs in the 1970s.
He became one of the richest people in the world, but constantly battled rival cartels, leading to
massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians.

Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives, but his political
ambitions were thwarted by the Colombian and U.S. governments, who routinely pushed for his
arrest. Escobar's life has been dramatized in film, television, and music.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born in 1949, the third child of seven children, and grew up in the
neighboring city of Medellin. He briefly became autonomous in Latin America by forging high school
diplomas.