Pablo Escobar Cartels: Violence In Colombia

There is a saying in Colombia that God made the land so beautiful it was unfair to the rest of the world, so to be fair, God populated Colombia with a race of evil men. Violence in Colombia has been prevalent since the country’s bloody struggle for independence. Since then, violence has sprouted from a variety of sources, serving multiple interests and agendas. These different waves of violence shook the country and left countless dead. One of the most recent occurrences was the violence that developed during the late twentieth century, and continued into the twenty-first century, in Bogotá and Medellín. During this era, Pablo Escobar and the other cartels terrorized Colombia’s urban centers with their bombing campaigns and assassinations.

While there were different cartels in Colombia, they all had similar ideologies and goals; mainly, they were focused on supplying the United States with a steady stream of cocaine. The cartels were organized in a manner that allowed them to come together to push their agenda. They banded together to split up US markets for their trade. More importantly, however, they used their collective ability to pursue violence in order to maintain their hold on the drug trade. This can be seen in the cartel’s campaign against extradition that shook the country. As Escobar and the cartels became more prominent, the Colombian government began to take steps towards implementing an extradition policy with the United States. In effect, Bogotá and other cities saw a spike in violence, which the worst crimes were credited by Los Extraditables— an alliance between Colombia’s drug traffickers fighting against extradiction. The leadership and organization of the cartels allowed them to form Los Extraditable. The cartels were all working towards the same goal, and with clear leadership in their ranks, they could successfully unite and put their efforts towards battling extradition. They were able to use violence to push their anti-extradition agenda. Another aspect that reveals their unity is the nationalistic rhetoric they used, stating “better a grave in Colombia than a jail

Because the cartels were focused on their shipping cocaine, the violence that they emitted was focused on the drug trade. Looking again at the issue of extradition, one can see how the acts of violence committed during this period were motivated by their involvement in the drug trade, allowing them to focus their violence. Los Extraditables carried out a campaign of assassinations—which included, judges, political figures, policemen, and many more—and bombings in order to prevent the possibility of extradition. These acts of violence were focused on stopping extradition and not necessarily to overthrow the current government or to push a political agenda. The cartels were able to employ sicarios and bombs to take out political figure that would work against them. These acts of violence also served to create fear amongst the government and the people as well. As they carried these violent acts out, they emitted a clear message: stopping them from pursuing their drug trade would result in death. The cartels pinpointed their violence in order to accomplish these tasks. The violence they carried out was strategic, so that it could help their ability to continue in the drug trade. The cartel’s collective organization and leadership shaped their violence into a focused manner, allowing them to fight agendas that would hurt the drug