Escobar's Narcoterrorism

“Plata o plomo?” - Escobar’s narcoterrorism and its impunity

Drug cartels have played a large role throughout the Colombian conflict, violating many human rights. They have been associated with murders of government heads, peace negotiators, professors, reporters, and other civilians. However, much of their violations have been overlooked or ignored by the human rights reports. What makes this specific actor in our research so interesting, is that the drug cartels at first glance do not really seem to be the main actor in the conflict. However, the drug cartels play the key role in financing the operations of the other actors, like the guerrillas and the paramilitaries. The drug cartels themselves hire these actor’s armies in order for protection.

Luis Carlos Galán, a politician running for presidency, was extremely dissatisfied with the actions by the drug cartels in Colombia. Therefore, he started to fight the drug cartels. Despite Escobar’s success in politics, Galán, the head of the ‘Nuevo Liberalisimo’ party where Pablo wanted to be part of, did not want Escobar involved in his party. Galán named in his speech that he did not accept support from someone who cannot explain the origin of his fortune. Escobar also knew that if Galán would become the president, he and his cartel would be turned over to the USA and be brought to justice. Therefore, Escobar wanted Galán dead. During one of Galán’s final speeches on the 18th of August, he got shot commissioned by

However, Galán’s aim to stop the drug trafficking and hold them accountable for what they did is not fully achieved. For both Galan’s death and the airplane bombing, measurements have been taken, but the commissioner of the assassination, Pablo Escobar, never got arrested for it. For the death of Galán, many suspects have been arrested. The principal suspect, who turned out to be innocent, was released after years of being imprisoned. Eventually, Jaime Eduardo Rueda Rocha, a paramilitary, turned out to be the one who shot Galán and got arrested. The new president, Gaviria, who was feared to death after he had seen what Escobar was capable off, knew the country was tired of narcoterrorism and therefore decided to start negotiating with Escobar. Escobar stated that if the extradition treaty would be stopped, he was allowed to decide for himself where he would be imprisoned and if he would be only charged for drug trafficking, he would turn himself in. On the 19th of June 1991, Escobar turned himself in, under his own conditions. Even though this led to a short period of less violence in Colombia, it did not lead to justice. The airplane bombing, which was commissioned by Pablo Escobar, is declared as a crime against humanity in 2009. However, the proper measurements for such a crime have not been given. The victims’ families agree and are still demanding full justice. Escobar