Astrid María Legarda Martínez - The true life of Pablo Escobar

El Patrón thought about the strike at Tranquilandia and decided to kill the minister. He knew that the cure could be worse than the illness, but he also knew what he had to do. Pablo’s men thought of various ways to execute Lara Bonilla. One was to shoot him from an ambulance. Pinina went to the Campo Valdés District, and hired Byron Velásquez, alias Quesito, and Iván Darío Guisado. Quesito was a skilled motorcyclist, and Iván Darío an accomplished assassin.

With a DT175 Yamaha motorbike and a 45 caliber Atlanta machine gun, Pinina, Chopo, Oto, and La Yuca traveled to Bogotá. They decided to machinegun the minister down on his way from his home to the Ministry of Justice.

This time Lara Bonilla was in Pablo Escobar Gaviria’s territory—the streets. Escobar’s people finished their research and withdrew to the city. Although the minister was zealously watched over by the DAS, his official car was not armored. This was his one weakness. This mistake had already been detected by Pinina and the others.

Lara Bonilla’s family pressured him to leave the country and he was ready to seek refuge. Although he seriously feared for his life, he didn’t believe that Pablo would attack so soon. At the bottom of his heart, he had hoped that a minister of his power could not be attacked by the likes of Pablo; however, the discovery of Tranquilandia gave him a sample of the gangster’s power and diminished his hope.

Anyone who has thoroughly studied Pablo’s judicial past knows that the confiscation at Itagüí on January 16, 1976, was nothing compared to what was found at Tranquilandia on March 8, 1984. The heated debates on Pablo Escobar in the crowded Congress awoke further fears in Lara Bonilla for the safety of his family. He considered fleeing the country with all of them.

Meanwhile the Chief awaited the operation’s outcome at his hacienda. His paradise, once used for pleasure, was now a hideout. Sentry boxes for surveillance and lookouts gave him the time he would need, if ever necessary, to run and find protection amidst the trees. He was prepared.

On April 30, 1984, the country experienced the impossible: the hand of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria reached the Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla. He was riding in a Mercedes Benz on Avenue 127 in north Bogotá when machine gun fire shot by Iván Darío Gusado burst into the car, putting an end to the dispute between the minister and Pablo Escobar and starting a cruel bloodbath in the country of Colombia.

The minister’s bodyguard reacted and shot Guisado. Byron was not able to control the motorcycle with his passenger dead and, taking a sharp turn, fell and was immediately seized by the minister’s bodyguards.

The news exploded like a bomb. The country could hardly believe it. The press reported the murder: “The Republic of Colombia’s Minister of Justice was murdered at 7 p.m. in Bogotá . . . ” The Colombian political class trembled. Luis Carlos Galán knew he was next, and that they were now in the hands of the Antioquian mafia.

Escobar received the news calmly. He remembered the minister’s arrogance in his attacks against him. He decided he must get out of the hacienda and head toward a hideout in Medellín. Escobar used multiple cars with radios to avoid police or army checkpoints. He knew it was better to get out of the hacienda because the government’s response could be strong and comprehensive.

Killing the minister had been easy; managing the consequences was a little more difficult. Pablo headed to Monte Loro, stopping at a little restaurant on the side of the road along the way. The news of the assassination was incessantly on the radio and television. Escobar ordered a soda and listened to the news. Suddenly, he heard the shop assistant in the restaurant comment, “That minister was very stupid indeed to meddle with Pablito.”

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla

(Photo courtesy of the newspaper El Espectador )

There the Chief realized the seriousness of his problem. If a simple shop assistant knew it was him, then it was safe to assume that government officials did too.

He went quickly to the hideout at El Paraíso 20 20 Paradise. in Envigado. 21 21 High-class district of Medellín. As he suspected, the investigation was directed toward him.

President Belisario Betancur Cuartas faced the country in a televised speech, expressing his fury towards the mafia in general. He announced that by administrative means, although some Colombians had unsettled issues with the U.S. government, extradition of certain criminals to the U.S. would begin. He also announced a raid against the drug traffic organization and its infrastructure. He proclaimed a total war against the whole mafia.

Germán Alfonso Díaz Quintana, El Ronco, was detained and the authorities found the hotel where El Chopo had been staying. His registered calls were made to La Estrella, an Antioquian municipality, specifically to the house of El Chopo’s wife. Under torture, Quesito gave Pinina’s name as the person that hired him.

Over a thousand two hundred raids were conducted against the mafia. The most aggressive raids were carried out in Antioquia. The Nápoles Hacienda, along with every one of Escobar’s properties, didn’t escape the government’s desperate search. Airplanes, automobiles, motorcycles, boats, and yachts were seized.

The mobsters hid and moved only in secret. Meanwhile, Pablo Escobar sat in his hideout, watching the television in anticipation. He was enjoying the sweet flavor of revenge and planning for the future.

The airplanes confiscated from the government’s offensive were taken to Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru by El Patrón. Pablo fled to Panama under the protection of the country’s strong man, Manuel Antonio Noriega. He rented a furnished house belonging to a general of the Panamanian guard and settled there. He was soon joined by Jorge Luis Ochoa and Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha.

The Colombian authorities completed the first phase of the investigation into the assassination of the Minister of Justice. The police gathered a group of suspects: Byron Velásquez, Iván Darío Guisado, Chopo, Pinina, and Ronco, the liaison in Bogotá. Everything lined up. The only piece missing was what linked Pablo Escobar to this group. The judges didn’t have any proof that this group worked for El Patrón—they only suspected it. The government openly accused him of being the intellectual author and perpetrator of the minister’s death.

Privately, the Chief denied any connection to the assassination. The situation became so critical that Pinina feared that El Patrón would kill them all, if only to break the link with him.

Meanwhile, Pablo moved around Panama like a fish in the water. He was glad to have his airplanes and his pilots, among whom were Roberto Striedinger and Barry Seal. Pablo and The Mexican 22 22 Alias of Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha. organized new drug trafficking routes with their star pilot, Barry Seal.

The leaders of the M-19 23 23 Colombian insurgent group. , Iván Marino Ospina and Alvaro Fayad, with whom Pablo maintained a close friendship, introduced him to Federico Vaughan, a man with political influence in Nicaragua. Federico Vaughan specifically held influence with the Sandinistas, who controlled the country after overthrowing Dictator Anastasio Somosa Debayle. Federico Vaughan took Escobar to Nicaragua and connected him with the Sandinistas.

Finding better security in Nicaragua, Pablo settled in Managua. His friendship with Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader, greatly furthered the development of his illegal activities. Such was the relationship between the two men that once at a military base with Daniel Ortega and Iván Marino Ospina, Pablo suggested they have a contest to determine the best shooter. Both men laughed and accepted the challenge. A bottle was placed thirty meters away at the top of a wire fence pole. Ortega gave the gun of one of his subordinates to Iván Marino. They asked Pablo to shoot first; he was ready. Pablo took out his gun, the one he always carried with him, and shot the target dead on. A new bottle was placed; it was Ortega’s turn. He missed his shot. Iván Marino followed, and also missed the target. The three of them looked at each other as a triumphant smile played on Pablo’s lips. He aimed his gun again at the bottle. Ortega shook his head. “Pablo, don’t make a fool of yourself. Don’t try again—you already made it!” Iván Marino agreed with Ortega. Without answering, El Patrón shot, hitting the target again. This little game spread his reputation as a great gunman.