First of all, I will give you a bottom line, this article is all true.
There's an American drama called "Narcos," which is very good, about Pablo Escobar, Colombia's biggest drug lord. More than 40,000 Douban netizens scored, and now it is still 9.3 points.
The 9.3 points of american drama can be said to be very rare. But there is one thing that makes it difficult for many viewers to accept, and even if they think it is not so good, they voluntarily beat high scores, because when filming "Narcos", the producer was assassinated.
It's true that shortly after the third season of Narcos aired, location director Carlo Munoz was shot dead while searching for a filming location for the fourth season in Mexico. He was found sitting in the car, covered in bullet marks. It is believed that the killer is a member of the family of his subject, the drug lord Pablo Escobar.
It can be said that I am filming a drama with my life.
At the beginning of the film, we see a different place:
"Magic realism is about embedding something incredibly bizarre in a highly detailed, realistic context."
Generally speaking, American dramas are aimed at the broadest public group, why did they report a string of magic realism as soon as they came up, which is a high-level literary term explanation of "although everyone is saying it, but I don't know what it means"? It's clear that this is a tribute to our old friend, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, García Márquez.
Drug lords Pablo and Márquez are both Colombians, and Márquez was at home when Pablo was at his peak. Of course, Lao Ma hated him very much, because he had turned the whole country upside down, and the police alone had killed more than a thousand people. But Pablo should have liked Marquez very much, because he had found almost all of Marquez's works available on the market in his residence.
But before Pablo died, he probably did not expect that his literary idol, Marquez, would write a book about his crimes: "The News of a Serial Kidnapping Case", which has just been released in China for Chinese.
Below, we will introduce the protagonist of Márquez's Pablo Escobar.
1
The legend begins with poverty
Pablo's legend began with poverty, born in 1949 in a small town called Enwegado on the outskirts of Medellín, Colombia, where his father was a very ordinary farmer who occasionally engaged in a little business of buying and selling cattle and horses, his mother was also a statusless primary school teacher, and his already poor economically disadvantaged family was desperate because his father was addicted to gambling and eventually lost his farm in the town. After that, the father's whereabouts are unknown, and the mother alone bears the burden of the family, and Pablo, who is distressed by his mother, once said: "Mother, when I grow up, I will give you everything." "At this time, he was only five years old. By the time he was in elementary school, he had already revealed some of the talents that would later develop him—stealing. He scraped off the stolen tombstones and sold them to Panamanian smuggling syndicates to earn a family. Later, he opened a car repair shop and made "universal car keys" under the cover of legal identity, with a very high unlocking rate, making him quickly become the most powerful car thief in the local area. For a person who becomes the richest person in the world at the age of thirty, this is just the first step in a journey of a thousand miles.
In the American drama "Narcos", Pablo transports drugs by truck
I don't know exactly when Pablo started the drug business. In the early 1970s, he and his accomplices were defrauding on the streets, selling smuggled cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, stealing cars and hiring killers, and carrying a $100,000 kidnapping. Pablo is said to have been involved in guerrillas in the Colombian jungle, where he was trained as a professional killer. He then followed the drug smuggler Alvaro Prieto and soon became a millionaire. Under his leadership, large quantities of cocaine were procured, processed and brought to the United States in Bolivia and Peru. He united five or six other illegal businesses in the Medellín region to establish the infamous Medellín Cartel Group, an armed drug cartel that could compete with the country's regular army, and wrote a history of crime in the more than 20 years since its establishment.
Judging by Pablo's ambition and unscrupulousness, it was extremely natural that he would have taken the path of drugs. Not to mention a unique reason, Colombia has maintained several "world records" and endured: the annual production of marijuana is 7500 to 9000 tons, whether in quantity, quality, sales and profits, it ranks first in the world. It also has an annual output of 30,000 tons of coca leaf (the main raw material for the production of cocaine), which is a well-deserved "drug kingdom". He controls about 80 percent of the cocaine that is shipped into the United States each year, manufactured in his own factory, transported by his own aircraft and ships, including an entire fleet of two radio-controlled submarines, and transports 70 to 80 times a month from Colombia to the United States, each up to 11 tons. At the same time, Medellín uses a large number of white-collar workers, such as bankers and lawyers, who are distorted by drugs, to help launder their illegal income.
The real Escobar (left) is always simply dressed, and the sportswear and jeans are standard, and this image is also faithfully restored to the series.
2
Medellín Robin Hood
Although regarded as the number one enemy of the United States and the Colombian government, Pablo was a hero to the people of the Medellín region. Beginning in 1974, there was a lot of talk in Medellín about "Uncle Robin Hood"—Pablo, of course. He built kindergartens, schools, and as a sports fan, he also founded football clubs, soccer fields and various sports fields for Envigado, as well as supported children's soccer teams. The once-run-down town thrived on his career, and Medellín built Colombia's first and still only subway line (not even the capital), some say, thanks to Pablo's patronage. There have been reports that he used a fake document and a pistol to take back the farm that his father had lost, and then told the villagers that they could take anything from the farm at will. He then told the farmers to stop growing corn and potatoes and to plant coca leaves instead. Interestingly, it is said that the coca cultivated through his research not only doubled the yield, but also refined cocaine with higher purity. Pablo was very focused on the establishment of welfare services. One-third of Medellín's industrial workers benefit directly or indirectly from "drug money." In addition, he had a plan to prevent slums in the city of Medellín. On the hilly land west of Medellín, there is a slum dwelling called "Lloret", which has now been converted into the "Escobar Region". He worked hard to cultivate his "Robin Hood" image and often distributed money to the poor. Through housing projects and other civic activities, he gained a remarkable popularity among the poor. As a result, the inhabitants of Medellín often helped Pablo, withholding information from the authorities, or doing anything else they could to protect him. In the "Narcos" drama, when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration detectives hunt down Pablo's right-hand men, they let the child suddenly pull out a gun to help the other party.
Stills from the American drama "Narcos"
Legends about Pablo are even more mythical. Lujan, a shoemaker in the city of Envigado, once threw Pablo 5 million pesos (about $7,500) to the driver after a not-too-long taxi ride. He himself once shined Pablo's shoes, and the rich man gave him 200,000 pesos. Pablo's favor is not a myth. In what economists have called the "lost decade in Latin America," the city of Envigado has indeed seen an unprecedented boom. Envigado is the only place in Colombia to offer unemployment and old-ageing benefits, and its public services are subsidized and 99% of the population is also unique in the country.
Escobar was undoubtedly the richest man in Colombia at the time, and Forbes magazine once named him the seventh richest man in the world, but because of the huge amount of drug money, it is difficult to accurately count, and no one can really figure out how much money he has.
His marriage also became a hot topic of discussion, when he was 25 years old and fell in love with his best friend's sister, Maria Victoria, who was only 13 years old, and none of her family could accept him, so they decided to elope. Two years later, they got married. She soon became pregnant and had children, and that's when he began building the "Napoli Estate"—a large secret estate that is said to be 600 hectares, with luxury villas, a helipad for helicopters, several airstrips, and a zoo with more animals than the total number of zoo animals in Colombia combined. To keep parrots, the monthly purchase of sunflower seeds as fodder is equal to a month's salary of an ordinary Colombian worker.
Pablo's royal photographer El Chino said: "He was born in a Colombian society where many things were illegal but generally accepted, and he was convinced that trade would eventually become legal. "If what the young Pablo wanted to change was his mother's poverty, then Pablo decided to change the fate of the whole country. He naturally chased power and money, and after money was no longer worried, he planned to turn his dream of president into reality.
3
The most special mp
When his career reached the point where he occupied 1/3 of the country's economy, he entered politics, and the number one drug lord was respected and praised by all walks of life. People say his industry "does for the people what many countries can't do." In this way, in 1982, Pablo Escobar was elected as an alternate member of Parliament in the province of Antioquia as a candidate for the Liberal Party. His political slogan was "To be the master of the people, to emphasize doing things, and to speak the truth." And continued to build a large number of houses for all the poor who were willing to work in his "company". He whitewashed himself into a successful businessman who had made his fortune in his youth by renting and repairing cars, buying and selling lottery tickets and real estate, treating the masses very kindly and never looking high. For example, if Pablo promises, "I'm going to light up the stadium, paint the school, and ring the church bells." "Well, the next day you'll see these plans unfold. People have never seen such a politician, let alone do what Pablo did. When he was confronted with questions from reporters, he always answered the answers prepared in advance, and these answers were repeatedly practiced to ensure that they did not make mistakes in answering, and were always cunning and cautious enough.
Escobar, who has experienced the taste of poverty since childhood, has always been kind and caring to his family; he often distributes money to the poor, and even earns him the reputation of "Robin Hood of Medellín".
Pablo, who became a politician, always dressed simply, and sportswear with blue jeans was standard (this is basically reflected in "Narcos"). Interestingly, because he loved Elvis Presley so much that he once called himself "The Elvis of Colombia", he had a thick beard and a large body, and was very popular like all enthusiastic South Americans. One of his lovers, Virginia, said: "He has full ambition, loves himself more than the people and has enthusiasm for him, but he is still the only rich man in Colombia who is generous to the people, knowing that the rich people of the whole country will not give even a small piece of bread to the poor." ”
Bribery and intimidation were Pablo's main means of getting along with the Colombian political system, and his judicial and political pursuit of his "silver or lead" principle (referring to money or bullets, mentioned many times in Narcos) led to the deaths of hundreds of people, including civilians, police officers and government officials. At the same time, Pablo bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians. A deadly war on drugs was also waged for the monopoly of the Medellín Group, whose main rival was the Cali Cartel Group. The battle with the Cali Group also became the highlight of the last few episodes of the first season of "Narcos".
The drug cartel gathering in the American drama "Narcos", the left one is Pablo
4
Fight the United States in the name of Colombia
When Pablo learned of the extradition clause finally adopted by the Colombian government in 1979, the U.S. government, which had always regarded the major drug cartels as a major problem, began to attack the president's traitor in the media: "We are solving the problems of the country, it is a remedy for the incompetence of the government, our existence has given a large number of poor people the opportunity to survive, bringing a better life, and now we are going to unite with foreign countries to eliminate us." "Pablo incites those who have been funded by him. The support of a student of the Law Department of the University of Medellín: "In fact, my parents were also farmers who flowed into the city of Medellín. Although drug cartels are a criminal existence, they give relief to the unemployed and housing the poor, which is difficult for the government to do. I sometimes see this as a revolution aimed at destroying the privileges of government, and I may one day join them. "Until 1983, the president did not sign this clause. If extradition clauses do not take effect, Colombia's prisons are no threat to drug lords.
The 1989 presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Garland, was once seen as Colombia's hope, but was assassinated by Escobar's assigned killer.
The turning point came in the death of the new attorney general in 1984, after which Pablo faced increasing pressure from the government. The minister of justice's death stemmed from one of his speeches. The new justice minister, Named Lara, exposed Pablo, who was born as an alternate member of parliament, at a parliamentary hearing as the leading figure in the notorious Medellín clique, and dismissed it as a "colombian disgrace" by blending into parliament. Pablo had originally written a proposal to impeach the attorney general, but when he saw that the situation was not right, he had to leave the scene first. It was in Lara's revelations that people were surprised to learn that the Medellín Group was so large, with more than 25,000 people engaged in drug trafficking, and they had a private army of 3,000 people in Enwegado. Those government officials were either killed or bribed, and few police officers were able to deal with them. "They are the most vicious, dangerous, brutal, boldest criminal organization ever in the world. Compared to this group, the Mafia in the United States is like a student in elementary school, and the Yamaguchi group in Japan is like a choir in a church. Officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said.
Pablo then held secret negotiations with the government at The President Ma providing shelter in Bana, and eventually reached some sort of deal. Originally, the matter may have been a chapter, but Lara's sudden murder caused the situation to take a sharp turn. Colombia was grieving the nation, and with the participation of the United States, the government and the Medellín clique entered a state of all-out war.
An American agent in the American drama "Narcos"
The real drama continued to play out in this war, and Pablo and the government actually performed an "infernal affair": Pablo sent a person code-named "Vitamin 10" into the secret police, who was a key factor in Pablo's repeated escape; and the police also installed an undercover agent inside the drug cartel, but before he could play a role, he was assassinated by Pablo. In those years, Pablo committed countless murders, and if there was a day when no one in the city died, it would become the headlines of the media. The newly appointed attorney general was killed before having his ears and eyes cut off and tortured for six hours. He also created an explosion at the Supreme Court aimed at destroying evidence of the prosecution against the Medellín Group. To make matters worse, he also blew up an Airbus plane, and no one was spared, and the cause of the incident was only to execute several informants on the plane.
In 1989, presidential candidate Luis Carlos Garland was assassinated by Pablo while speaking in the square, and finally the Colombian government could not bear it and agreed to sign an extradition treaty with the United States, destroying in one fell swoop the "Golden Manor" where Pablo held a secret meeting.
Cesar Govilia, who succeeded to the presidency, continued his war with drug lords and is still active in Colombian politics.
Not only from the government, but also with the growth of the drug cartel, the Pablo began to appear under the opposition, he could not stand the betrayal of his subordinates, and devised a number of heinous means to punish those who betrayed, which attracted more opposition. Soon, an organization emerged within the group that treated him as a human being, using Pablo's methods to attack Pablo's loyalists, and this organization also colluded with other drug cartels to gradually encroach on the power of the Medellín group, leading to the eventual collapse of the group.
5
The number one drug lord gave himself a shot
After Pablo was surrendered, the government promised him to build a prison in Nwegado, using the lines of the anti-drug bureau officer in Narco, "This is not a prison, but a fortress, a fortress that belongs to Pablo alone." Needless to say, the prison was so extravagant that he even built himself a football stadium inside – he was an avid fan. Although he was comfortable in the most unlikely prison, he never let go of his grip on power and money, and he planned more than one escape. It is said that he dressed himself as a village woman, designed a melee in the prison, took advantage of the chaos of the war to successfully escape, the police entered the prison with hindsight, only to find that the prison director and the captain of the guard were tied up, the prison guards were basically subdued, the prisoners wore gas masks for melee, but there was no Pablo inside. Pablo showed himself in a jungle in northwestern Colombia through a tape he gave to the radio. Unfortunately, after more than a year of hiding in the jungle, Pablo was exposed by a phone call with his son, and he had just celebrated his 44th birthday before his death, when he still wanted to communicate with the press through his son and make a comeback. He actually knew that someone was tracking his phone all the time, so each call would not last more than a minute, so alert because the last call was fixed by the police. At the last moment, before he could change his shoes, he fled to the roof and ran in the rain of bullets. A fatal shot went through his ear and into his head. There is now much controversy about who fired the shot. Colombia believes that it was fired by the captain of his pursuit team, the Americans believe that it was killed by the US Special Operations Group, and Pablo's family claimed that Pablo himself shot it, and his brother said: "He told me every day that if he was really desperate, he would give himself a shot, and in the end he did it." The final autopsy revealed that the final shot should have come from one that would not go beyond the arm. The truth may not be known, and in any case, it doesn't matter anymore.
Escobar was killed in a manhunt and Steve Murphy (the man in red) was photographed with his body.
About 25,000 people attended Pablo's funeral, and the poor in his hometown mourned his death, and his investment did have a lasting impact on the land. His former lead defense lawyer Carlos Aleta argued: "Colombia's own society has something to blame for, it tolerates crime. I don't think Pablo is the godfather of all the crimes in Colombia, before him, and after him, Colombia is a crime haven. "History is destined to record this highly controversial legend, his portraits appear in the streets and alleys, in the "kingdom of crime" Colombia, people need a hero to worship, in a sense, Pablo is like Colombia's Che Guevara, giving some strength to the desperate poor.