500 Days of Escobar

Have you talked with Escobar Gaviria?

With the lawyers. I talk to the lawyers.

What has been decided?

So far, many things,

but he makes the final decisions.

A few days ago, Escobar sent a letter

to the Colombian Attorney General's Office,

which lists several conditions

that would facilitate his surrender.

Escobar wants his family's safety

to be guaranteed by the Colombian authorities.

He wants his own kitchen and chef,

because he fears that someone might poison him.

What worries Escobar the most

is his own safety inside the prison.

- Who are you? - Who are you?

- Who are you? - Who is coming?

We are climbing towards the highest point.

In a few minutes, we'll see the prison.

Now the whole group of journalists

is heading this way, crossing off-road.

Long live Colombia!

Another vehicle has just passed by on its way to the jail.

Finally, almost a month after it was announced,

at 5:00 p.m. yesterday,

midnight in Spain,

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, the Boss,

the head kingpin of the Medellín Cartel,

one of the world's most wanted,

surrendered to Colombian justice.

Pablo Escobar surrendered,

the Medellín Cartel's cocaine boss,

reported by Colombian broadcasters

at 10:00 p.m., Greenwich, on Wednesday,

according to France-Presse.

When it was announced on the radio,

the breaking news that Pablo Escobar had entered La Catedral

with a group of his henchmen, hired assassins,

or closest lieutenants,

there were very high expectations in Medellín

and for news correspondents

of national and international media in Medellín.

There was a choice of,

"Let's try to go all the way to La Catedral,

to see if perhaps we can enter and meet Pablo Escobar."

Please do not take any shots or photos

until we reach the jail, please.

And the circumstances under which he would stay there,

because there was all kinds of speculation.

Most obviously, that it was a prison he built himself,

with many luxuries.

And one condition was,

being confined in a penitentiary,

prison, or jail facility,

to give him all the guarantees.

Have the remaining 20 arrived?

- They are coming today. - What time?

Later.

The Director of the...

- Are they from the Envigado prison? - Yes, sir.

How many are coming?

Approximately 20.

How many are coming?

Foreign and national journalists in Medellín, Colombia,

confirmed that the maximum-security prison in Envigado

is not a luxury mansion, nor a five-star hotel.

The access, as shown, is a tortuous and narrow road,

the structural design has elements

that provide security,

but there's no marble or gold,

as had been speculated.

Pablo Escobar sent a letter

to the Minister of Justice, Jaime Giraldo,

to allow journalists to enter

and view the actual conditions,

before it is used by him and several drug traffickers.

A few hours ago, the National Assembly amended the constitution

to prohibit the extradition of Colombians abroad.

It was the last condition needed

by Pablo Escobar to turn himself in.

I wish to have a trial,

with my presence and my submission to justice.

I also wish to pay tribute to my parents,

to my irreplaceable and incomparable wife,

my 14-year-old pacifist son,

to my little 7-year-old toothless ballerina,

and my entire family, who I love so much.

At this historic moment

of surrender of weapons by the guerrillas

and the pacification of the country,

I could not remain indifferent to the desire for peace

of most of the Colombian people.

Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Envigado, Colombia,

June 19, 1991.

I will never forget the surrender of Pablo Escobar.

When the helicopter took off,

I said to myself...

"Pablo Escobar won and we lost."

500 DAYS OF ESCOBAR THE DIZZYING FALL OF THE KINGPIN

The prison guards, the penitentiary guards,

were not there to make sure Pablo Escobar did not get out,

but to defend him.

That was the defense plan, just like

the fencing and electrical grid.

And the army had a perimeter a little farther out,

which they'd use for protection.

PHOTOGRAPHER HERVASQUEZ EL COLOMBIANO

It wasn't a prison, that was...

a small school

with a good field,

where they received women at night for the party

and friends to play soccer during the day.

Pablo Escobar has just scored a goal.

We believe that it is certainly

an important achievement that's been acknowledged

by the U.S. authorities,

to have Pablo Escobar in jail

and the main leaders of the Medellín Cartel,

but it is equally important

that he receives a sentence

that is proportionate to the crimes he has committed,

and this is a great challenge

to punish these criminals in an exemplary manner.

But with Pablo there was a very important problem.

You knew what time the game started,

but never when it was over,

because Pablo only finished the game

when it was tied or when he won.

What was your commitment to Pablo Escobar?

To not abandon him,

help him a little,

visit him from time to time.

It was a commitment to compassion.

At La Catedral,

I was the one who organized

the cars with false bottoms for women to come up,

also politicians, who went up there in droves

to ask Pablo for money.

From the very start, it was known that Pablo Escobar

was a big traitor.

Perhaps the only ones to whom he kept absolute loyalty

were the Moncadas, the Galeanos, the Ochoas,

three of the other very important clans.

PABLO EMILIO ESCOBAR GAVIRIA US $10,000,000

KIKO MONCADA, FERNANDO GALEANO, FABIO OCHOA US $5,000,000

A large part of his wealth

was obtained by executing partners

and keeping their assets.

The beginning of the end,

is when he executed the Moncada and Galeano families.

Pablo called his brothers,

called the accountants to La Catedral,

and decided to eliminate the Galeano and Moncada families,

because strategically he had no other way out.

They'd already taken sides with the Cali Cartel.

And he confirmed it,

and he decided to destroy them.

JULY 1992

Gabriel, do you remember the previous Saturday,

we questioned the Minister of National Defense

about some communiqués,

pamphlets that were distributed by air

in the capital of Antioquia,

saying that Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria

continued controlling his drug-trafficking business

directly from the maximum-security prison,

and furthermore, he was ordering the murders of several people?

- That's right. Look, Gabriel. - Yes.

I do not know if our Medellín colleagues

could provide us with the names or surnames

of the four members of the same family

who were killed last week

or the last few days in Medellín,

because that's where the whole problem is.

The relatives of these people who died

swore that they would do everything possible

to avenge their relatives.

The question that all journalists are asking ourselves,

that will be the big scoop

in the coming hours and tomorrow,

will be whether there was an intent to assassinate

Pablo Escobar inside La Catedral.

Does this mean there's division within the Cartel?

Yes, there is a deep division

in the Medellín Cartel,

a division that caused what it has caused tonight,

which is the relocation of Pablo Escobar Gaviria

from La Catedral jail

to the 4th Brigade in Medellín.

The government in power was forced

to send government emissaries,

to ask Pablo Escobar the favor

of allowing his transfer to another prison.

So Pablo Escobar said,

"I'm not leaving, and you'll stay here as hostages."

Attention. Breaking:

Pablo Escobar and his lieutenants hold hostage,

in a maximum-security tunnel, the Vice Minister of Justice,

the Director General of Prisons

and the Attorney General of Antioquia.