Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar remains one of the most notorious and influential drug lords in history. Known as the "King of Cocaine," he led the Medellín Cartel, which at its height controlled as much as 80% of the global cocaine trade. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Escobar built a vast narcotics empire that made him one of the richest criminals in the world. His cartel smuggled massive shipments of cocaine from Colombia to the United States, creating a global drug trafficking network unmatched in scale and brutality. Escobar’s reign was marked by extreme violence, with countless assassinations, bombings, and corruption of political and law enforcement systems across Latin America. Despite his criminal legacy, he gained support in parts of Colombia by funding housing, sports facilities, and infrastructure for the poor. Escobar’s influence was so powerful that he once negotiated his own prison terms and lived in a self-designed facility. His life and legacy continue to be referenced in pop culture, including films, books, and series like Narcos.

Pablo Escobar’s early life was shaped by poverty, ambition, and early exposure to street crime in Medellín, which laid the groundwork for his rise in the criminal underworld.

• He was born on 1 December 1949 in Rionegro, Antioquia Department, Colombia.
• Raised in Medellín, he faced financial hardship from a young age and left high school in 1966.
• He returned to school in 1968 with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria, but both dropped out again after facing discipline issues.
• Despite setbacks, Escobar forged a high school diploma and briefly studied in college, aiming to become a criminal lawyer and politician.
• To make money, he began reselling stolen tombstones and later moved into car theft with local gangs.
• His gang became notorious in Medellín after the high-profile 1971 kidnapping and murder of businessman Diego Echavarria, marking Escobar’s first major break into organized crime.

Pablo Escobar’s family remained closely connected to him throughout his rise in the drug trade, with his wife and children staying loyal even after his death and facing consequences due to his infamy.

• His father, Abel de Jesús Escobar, was a small farmer, and his mother, Hermilda Gaviria, was a schoolteacher.
• He was the third of seven children and belonged to the Paisa ethnic subgroup, with Spanish (Basque) and Italian roots.
• His older brother, Roberto Escobar, was the Medellín Cartel’s accountant and later co-founded Escobar Inc. to manage Pablo’s posthumous image and brand rights.
• In March 1976, he married María Victoria Henao, a teenager at the time, despite opposition from her family; she later became a real estate entrepreneur in Argentina.
• The couple had two children: a son, Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín), and a daughter, Manuela.
• Journalist Virginia Vallejo, a prominent media figure in Colombia, had a well-known romantic relationship with Escobar and later wrote a memoir about it.
• Drug trafficker Griselda Blanco was also linked to Escobar through a secret affair, as revealed in her personal writings.
• After Escobar’s death, his wife and children fled Colombia and eventually settled in Argentina under new identities.
• In 2018, María and her son were accused of money laundering in Argentina and had assets worth $1 million each seized by authorities.