Guillermo Cano’s funeral was packed. Politicians, with President Virgilio Barco in the lead, accompanied the coffin. Many influential leaders of the nation were present to pay tribute to Cano. Everyone was astonished by the Extraditables’ response to the reinstitution of extradition; within only a few hours of the president’s ruling, the mafia had already racked up an alarming body count.
Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento took advantage of the fact, and started pushing his politics over the coffins of his friends: Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, Supreme Court Justice Hernando Baquero Borda, Judge Tulio Manuel Castro Gil, Judge Gustavo Zuluaga Serna, Colonel Jaime Ramírez, the justices who died during the taking of the Palace of Justice, and journalist Guillermo Cano. Presidential elections came and Galán competed for the presidency with Virgilio Barco Vargas, earning a modest percentage of the votes. In spite of the defeat, Galán announced that he would keep working for the presidency and that he would keep attacking the mafia, specifically Pablo Escobar. His friends at the DEA and the U.S. Embassy were supporting him and financing his campaign, hoping that he would become Colombia’s next president. Galán was aware that he would have to put everything into taking down Pablo Escobar; he knew very well that the gangster never forgave Congress for the political and moral massacre they attempted against him. The only way to finish off his archenemy would be to win the presidency and aim the State’s arms against the mafia with the support of the U.S. The start of the political campaign for the next presidential elections was two and a half years away, but the enemy was huge and it was necessary to start as soon as possible.
Don Guillermo Cano Izasa, Director of the newspaper El Espectador. (Photo courtesy of the newspaper El Espectador)
Escobar had Luis Carlos Galán in his sights, but he felt no need to attack him because politically he didn’t represent a major danger at the moment. Galán’s poor results in the last election put Escobar at ease; of course, he was aware that with Luis Carlos Galán as president, it would be impossible to take down extradition. Only if Galán won the presidency would Pablo’s persecution become mortal.
The press and a large number of politicians, all those affected by the war against extradition, supported Galán and placed their hopes in him. The common citizens saw a last resort to stop the nation’s bloodshed in the liberal leader. Galán’s banner was the head of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. But this time the fight would not be in Congress but in the streets, and against a gigantic gangster.
With Cano’s murder, Pablo removed some pressure the journalist created with his editorials. In Pablo’s mind, he was one step closer to taking down extradition. He planned to discourage other journalists from making the same kind of pro-extradition, anti-Pablo reports. Of course, Cano’s death did send a message and gave many people something to think about. Guillermo Cano aimed his typewriter at Pablo, but the gangster aimed his guns at the journalist and achieved more lasting results. Alberto Santofimio, political advisor to Pablo, had pressed his boss to kill the journalist. At first El Patrón won, but the anti-Pablo feelings expressed by the journalist in his articles and editorials deepened with his death. Don Guillermo died a hero, while Pablo lived on as a villain. This didn’t disturb the Chief. He was a bandit, and he was fighting against extradition. With the journalist’s death, he gained little because the press charged him for their colleague’s murder and supported Luis Carlos Galán, but El Patrón went after his enemies no matter what. The war was just beginning. There were still many coffins yet to be buried, including Pablo Escobar’s.
By that time, El Patrón had already spooked politicians, journalists, the police, and industrialists in his war against extradition. Pablo, ever more courageous and receiving continuous praise from the underworld, became more confident moving around the city, and he began to buy his security. He traded in his bullets for money. He started to buy off key officers in Medellín’s police force, men greedy and sick with ambition.
Chapter XII
The Dirty War
Pablo Escobar had a very normal social life. He was seen in public places all the time. Once The Mexican visited him and they went out together to El Poblado Park. They sat like any two men from one of the businesses on the avenue would have sat, but passersby and window-shoppers across the street looked at them with great curiosity and astonishment. The team of bodyguards that afternoon was noticeably large.
Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha’s bodyguards no longer carried M60 machine guns or Galil 7.62 rifles. Those days they were carrying weapons that were a little more discreet. El Patrón and The Mexican ordered two coffees and they chatted animatedly, ignoring the curious onlookers. Two mafia titans sitting at a table drinking coffee—it was a good show. Suddenly, a huge metal door out front of a nearby store dropped with a tremendous crash. Instantly everybody turned their heads to watch the two gangsters. They simply returned their stares. Pablo chuckled to himself and The Mexican followed suit. The tension was strong, but nobody dared to leave the place. It was morbid curiosity. Forty minutes later, with the same coffee on the table, they paid the bill, leaving a two hundred-dollar tip, and left the coffee shop. All the attention was focused on the mafia chiefs.
El Patrón went to the hacienda in one of his airplanes, as always, and enjoyed his private paradise free of any limitations or hardships. He visited the cabin at Río Claro, where he enjoyed his airboat and water skiing. He relieved Nandito from the estate’s administration; the Chief complained about Nandito sleeping later than himself, and Escobar never got out of bed before 11:00 in the morning. The new administration consisted of Hector Barrientos, a man from Medellín acquainted with Gustavo Gaviria; and Hernán Henao (known as H. H.), a good worker who came from a family of farmers. Nandito was transferred to Los Lagos with Rodrigo Osorio. El Patrón ran his cartel like any CEO would run a business.
The press soon stopped attacking El Patrón so harshly. Luis Carlos Galán was on hiatus from the press, but he was working underground for the reestablishment of extradition.
A bust of martyred journalist Don Guillermo Cano was dedicated in the middle of Bolívar Park in the city of Medellín. The Chief didn’t like it, but it was a time of relative peace and he grudgingly accepted the new addition to his hometown.
Doña Hermilda was the director of a local association of retired teachers, but more importantly, she was the mother of El Patrón. She took a group of teachers to the hacienda, and there she gave the old women some unforgettable memories. One of the teachers died soon after, and Doña Hermilda arranged a worthy funeral for her. El Patrón decided to attend the wake in support of his mother. In fact, the entire cartel accompanied the Chief. Escobar entered, greeted Doña Hermilda and the others, and then approached the family of the deceased and gave them his condolences. As he sat down all eyes were fixed upon El Patrón rather than the coffin. After ten minutes, he stood up and affectionately said goodbye to his mother, the other patrons, and the family of the deceased. Doña Hermilda looked happy; she must have been thankful for her son’s gesture and pleased to see him in favor with the public once more.
One site in the city was particularly famous for the amount of bodies left there by the mafia: the Foxtail. It was a narrow pass between the upper part of El Poblado and the route to Las Palmas, a shortcut to the Oriente Antioqueño.36 The pass was very steep and rarely frequented. The elevation allowed you to see an approaching vehicle from a distance. Off and on, the authorities would post surveillance equipment, and whenever they loosened up their watch, the bodies would return. Occasionally, the police would also leave bodies at the Foxtail in hopes of framing the mafia. Bodies were left there so often that nearby residents would post signs that read: “Disposing of corpses prohibited here.”
Sometime later, as Pabón was leaving a soccer match at the Atanasio Girardot stadium, he was shot. Ten shots were fired. Before his attackers could finish the job, Pabón quickly maneuvered his car away from the would-be assassins, who were both on motorcycle. Miraculously, none of Pabón’s vital organs were hit; all the wounds were superficial. Three days later, Pabón