Pablo Escobar: A Criminal Against a Country Quiz

Answer: Tomb and car thief

Pablo Escobar began his criminal record in Medellin as a car thief and tomb pillager. Then he turned to drug smuggling from Ecuador. A few years after, he formed the Medellin Cartel with the Ochoa Brothers, Carlos Lehder and Gonzalo Rordiguez Gacha (aka El Mexicano). The Medellin Cartel was responsible for 80% of cocaine "exports" to the US at its height.

Answer: Talking by phone with his son

The police scanned the communications in the area where Escobar was supposed to stay in Medellin. He was angry and worried because of his family security, as they were rejected asylum in Europe and sent back to Colombia. The scanning resulted in the exact location of Escobar and after the first shooting, he was killed over a roof while trying to escape once again.

Answer: La Catedral

The "Catedral" was the name of the jail. Pablo Escobar built it after a negotiation with the government. Indeed it was a luxury jail only for Escobar and escorts, with a soccer field, jacuzzis, a gym, etc. There Escobar not only played soccer but held orgies.

It was his "office" were he attended his business and where people who tried to disobey him were tried and executed. As Escobar continued doing crimes, the government decided in 1992 to occupy the jail to send him to a high security jail. Nevertheless, Escobar escaped before the arrival of the police.

Answer: Rodrigo Lara Bonilla

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla opposed the political activities of Escobar and upheld the extradition policy. He was killed in Bogotá on April 30th 1984. Rodrigo Lara Bonilla opposed the political activities of Escobar and upheld the extradition policy. The official policy at the time, in the presidency of Belisario Betancur, was that Colombian judges and courts should try Colombian criminals. Escobar began a war against the judicial power and many judges were killed. Rodrigo Lara Bonilla denounced and exercised pressures on the Colombian government for full application of the Extradition Treaty. Congressmen financed by Escobar and the Medellin Cartel trapped Lara Bonilla on a congressional debate, alleging that Lara once received money from a drug trafficker. Even though Lara Bonilla refuted the accusations, the debate left him politically isolated.

He had no choice but to denounce Escobar even more strongly. In April 30 1984, two men on a motorcycle killed Lara Bonilla in Bogotá. At his funeral mass, President Betancur restored the extradition policy of drug traffickers to the US.

Answer: Nacional

When Escobar was in jail at the Catedral, almost every weekend he received visitors from Nacional soccer team players.

Answer: El Mexicano

Rodriguez Gacha loved Mexican culture. He named his farms and horses after Mexican places or people.

Answer: Los Pepes

Los Pepes was the name given to the group. It is short for "Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar" in Spanish.

Answer: Member of the house of representatives of Colombia

Escobar was elected to the house of representatives in the 80s. He abandoned his post after denunciations by Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla.

Answer: Argentina

In the final days of Escobar, his sons and wife looked for asylum in Germany. The German government rejected and deported them at the very time of their arrival, even prohibiting him from leaving the plane. After Escobar's death, his son and wife obtained forged identities in Argentina. His wife is now in prison in Argentina for money laundering.

Answer: Jaime Pardo Leal

In 1987, Escobar associates killed Jaime Pardo Leal, presidential candidate in 1986 for the Patriotic Union. Luis Carlos Galán was the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, killed in 1990 in Bogotá. Eduardo Pizarro was killed in a plane in 1989 and Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa at the Bogotá airport in 1990. Both were presidential candidates of the left.