DRUGS 16
1-3bj Search Bloc and Los Pepes
Following Escobar’s escape, the United States Joint Special Operations Command (consisting of
members of USN DEVGRU and Delta Force) and Centra Spike joined the manhunt for Escobar.
They trained and advised a special Colombian police task force known as the Search Bloc, which
had been created to locate Escobar. Later, as the conflict between Escobar and the governments of
the United States and Colombia dragged on, and as the numbers of Escobar’s enemies grew, a
vigilante group known as Los Pepes (Los Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar, “People Persecuted by
Pablo Escobar”) was formed. The group was financed by his rivals and former associates, including the
Cali Cartel and right-wing paramilitaries led by Carlos Castaño, who would later fund the Peasant
Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá. Los Pepes carried out a bloody campaign, fueled by
vengeance, in which more than 300 of Escobar’s associates and relatives were slain, and a large amount
of the Medellín cartel’s property was destroyed.
Members of the Search Bloc, and Colombian and United States intelligence agencies, in their efforts to find
Escobar, either colluded with Los Pepes or moonlighted as both Search Bloc and Los Pepes simultaneously.
This coordination was allegedly conducted mainly through the sharing of intelligence in order to allow Los
Pepes to bring down Escobar and his few remaining allies, but there are reports that some individual Search
Bloc members directly participated in missions of Los Pepes death squads. One of the leaders of Los Pepes
was Diego Murillo Bejarano (also known as “Don Berna”), a former Medellín Cartel associate who became a
rival drug kingpin and eventually emerged as a leader of one of the most powerful factions within the Self-
Defence of Colombia.
1-3bk Death
Members of Search Bloc celebrate over Escobar’s body on December 2, 1993. His death ended a 15-month
search effort, costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The war against Pablo Escobar ended on December 2, 1993, amid another of Escobar’s attempts to elude the
Search Bloc. A Colombian electronic surveillance team, led by Brigadier Hugo Martínez, used radio triangulation
technology to track his radiotelephone transmissions and found him hiding in Los Olivos, a middle-class barrio
in Medellín. With authorities closing in, a firefight with Escobar and his bodyguard, Alvaro de Jesús Agudelo
(a.k.a. “El Limón”), ensued. The two fugitives attempted to escape by running across the roofs of adjoining
houses to reach a back street, but both were shot and killed by Colombian National Police. Escobar suffered
gunshots to the leg and torso, and a fatal gunshot through the ear.
It has never been proven who actually fired the final shot into his ear, or determined whether this shot was made
during the gunfight or as part of a possible execution, with wide speculation remaining regarding the subject.
Some of Escobar’s relatives believe that he had committed suicide. His two brothers, Roberto Escobar and
Fernando Sánchez Arellano, believe that he shot himself through the ear. In a statement regarding the topic, the
duo would state that Pablo “had committed suicide, he did not get killed. During all the years they went after him,
he would say to me every day that if he was really cornered without a way out, he would ‘shoot himself through
the ear’.”
1-3bl Personal life, Family and relationships
In March 1976, a 27 year old Escobar married Maria Victoria Henao, who was 15. Despite Maria’s older brother
having previously worked with Escobar in small-scale criminal enterprises, the relationship was discouraged by the
Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior. This prompted the pair to elope, and they soon had two
children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela.
Virginia Vallejo published the memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar) in
2007, in which she describes having a romantic relationship with Escobar. Griselda Blanco is also reported to have
conducted a clandestine, but passionate, relationship with Escobar, with several items in her later-found diary linking
him with the nicknames “Coque de Mi Rey” (My Coke King) and “Polla Blanca” (White Dick).
1-3bm Properties
After becoming wealthy, Escobar created or bought numerous residences and safe houses, with the Hacienda Nápoles
gaining significant notoriety. The luxury house contained a colonial house, a sculpture park, and a complete zoo with
animals from various continents, including elephants, exotic birds, giraffes, and hippopotamuses. Escobar had also
planned to construct a Greek-style citadel near it, and though construction of the citadel was started, it was never finished.
Escobar also owned a home in the US under his own name: a 6500 square foot, pink, waterfront mansion situated at
5860 North Bay Road in Miami Beach, Florida. The four-bedroom estate, built in 1948 on Biscayne Bay, was seized by
the government in the 1980s. Later, the dilapidated property was owned by Christian de Berdouare, proprietor of the
Chicken Kitchen fast-food chain, who had bought it in 2014. De Berdouare would later hire a documentary film crew and
professional treasure hunters to search the edifice before and after demolition, for anything related to Escobar or his
cartel. They would find unusual holes in floors and walls, as well as a safe that was stolen from its hole in the marble
flooring before it could be properly examined.
Escobar also owned a massive Caribbean getaway on Isla Grande, the largest of the cluster of the 27 coral cluster
islands comprising Islas del Rosario, located approximately 22 miles from Cartagena. The compound, now half-
demolished and overtaken by vegetation and wild animals, featured a mansion, apartments, courtyards, a large
swimming pool, a helicopter landing pad, reinforced windows, tiled floors, and a large, unfinished building to the
side of the mansion.
1-3bn Aftermath of his death
Soon after Escobar’s death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the cocaine market became
dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders, too, were either killed or captured by the
Colombian government. The Robin Hood image that Escobar had cultivated maintained a lasting influence in
Medellín. Many there, especially many of the city’s poor whom Escobar had aided while he was alive, mourned his
death, with over 25,000 people present for his funeral.
1-3bo Virginia Vallejo’s testimony
On July 4, 2006, Virginia Vallejo, a television anchorwoman who was romantically involved with Escobar from 1983
to 1987, offered Colombian Attorney General Mario Germán Iguarán Arana her testimony in the trial against former
Senator Alberto Santofimio, who was accused of conspiracy in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate
Luis Carlos Galán. Iguarán acknowledged that, although Vallejo contacted his office on July 4, the judge had decided
to close the trial on July 9 several weeks before the prospective closing date. This was seen as too late,
and Santofimio was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in the assassination.
On July 16, Vallejo was taken to the United States by the Drug Enforcement Administration. She was transported on a
controlled flight for “safety and security reasons”, due to Vallejo’s cooperation in sensitive high-profile criminal cases.
On July 24, a video in which Vallejo accused Santofimio of instigating Escobar to eliminate presidential candidate
Luis Carlos Galán was aired on Colombian television. This was shown as key in helping Santofimio gain exoneration,
as well as a lack of evidence being present in the original trial.
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