My Attitude To Pablo Escobar
The famous drug trafficker, Pablo Escobar Gaviria, has been dead for over 20 years, but his memory seems to be more alive than ever in Colombia, where many consider him a monster but others still venerate him as a saint.
Personally, I belong to the first group that hates his legacy and wishes that the stereotype between narcotraffic and Colombians be eradicated from people’s minds. Movies and series of narcotraffic do not help at all. They commonly portray drug dealing as something Robbing Hood would do for the good of the people, with the difference that the story that directors sell to the viewers, all sides of the story wins. The problem with these series and all the merchandising that takes place on Escobar is that the great public begins to forget the victims, the suffering of those who suffered in their own flesh murder, dismemberment, and other attacks.
Narcos, a once trending serie in Netflix, directed by Chris Brancato, briefly relates in four seasons, the stories of drug lords specifically from Escobar's view. My reaction was “Great! another serie that will enforce the stereotype given to Colombians”, what made this experience worse was that my friends and peers in high school constantly came to me - The only Colombian student in the Phoenix District High Schools- for three reasons; if I had any relationship with Escobar or with drug dealing; if I could imitate his accent; and/or if I was proud of his legacy. All of them triggered me. After dealing with my inner anger, I would kindly explain to them the reality of a person he once was, to what they most of the times disregarded, arguing that the serie did not mentioned that and that they watch the show because of “how badass he looks”, to what I said to myself “pieces of… ignorant people”.
Soon enough, Narcos -producers and cast - and fans began arriving in Medellin in search of more stories about Escobar's life. Some obligatory stops in those visits included; the Monaco building, the Cathedral, , his tomb, Napoles, and the prison that was built with his designs. Daniel Vásquez, in charge of social links for the Casa de la Memoria Museum in Medellín, mentioned; "Pablo Escobar became the pop icon of this story". Controversially, Popeye, the alias of Jhon Jairo Velásquez, Escobar's sicario, began giving tours around the city after leaving prison in 2016. He also became a YouTube personality with his channel "Popeye repenting".
“It’s like if members of Al Qaeda gave tours in New York about how they had planned 9/11. ” - Luis Hernando Mejía - representative of neighbors association. Decades ago, tourists from all around the glove visited the Lagoon of Guatape, Plaza Botero, local amusement parks, among other places. At the present time, due to series like Narcos, tourists that visit Medellin, are eager to see with their own eyes the obsolete Empire that Ecobar once had. Luckily, the building of Monaco will be demolished by the city with the intention to designing a park remembering the victims. It is planned to be completed by 2019.
