Roberto Escobar

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Roberto de Jesús "El Osito" Escobar Gaviria (born January 13, 1947 in Rionegro ) is the older brother of the Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar , who founded the notorious Medellín cartel with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria and other partners . Roberto himself was responsible for finances during his work in the cartel. Because of his stamina, he was also called "El Osito" ( the bear ) in his younger years .

Life

Roberto de Jesús "El Osito" Escobar Gaviria and his brother Pablo came from a poor background and grew up on a small farm in Rionegro. While Pablo was sinking into crime, Roberto became a talented athlete, Colombian cycling champion and South American champion with the Colombian cycling team. He studied chemistry and electrical engineering, took courses in sports medicine and after finishing his professional career, he trained the Colombian cycling team and bred horses.

He didn't join his brother's criminal organization until the 1980s, when he was in charge of finances. He shifted funds, set up bogus companies, and bought real estate. Football was also used to launder drug money. Pablo bought Atlético Nacional , the most famous club in Medellín, and signed the best Colombian players. This football business was managed in collaboration between Roberto and Pablo. The police could never prove a direct involvement in violent crimes of the cartel. After negotiations with the authorities, in the meantime the Medellín cartel was one of the most powerful organizations in the world and many members were persecuted by the authorities, Pablo went with Roberto and his bodyguard in 1991 to the luxurious La Catedral prison, which he had built himself . After several scandals, the government wanted to move him to another prison, whereupon he fled with Roberto and other men. The Colombian government had now put a $ 10 million bounty on the brothers. On the advice of his brother, Roberto surrendered, who had already been sentenced to 14 years in prison before his first imprisonment and had been imprisoned in 1992 in the maximum security prison in Itagüí . On December 2 of the same year, his brother Pablo was caught by a Colombian-American special unit and, according to official information, shot while trying to escape. Two weeks after Pablo's death, Roberto received a letter bomb in his cell, making him almost blind and hard of hearing today. Roberto himself is of the opinion that this was an attack by the Colombian government, as his mail was in principle screened and checked.

Roberto was released from prison in 2003 and has since taken care of his late brother's estate. From 2010 he started the so-called "Pablo Escobar Tours" in Medellín with a local businessman, the proceeds of which go to his foundation to help AIDS sufferers. He also published a book about Pablo in 2008, in which he describes his own picture of his brother. At the end of each tour he sells this, with his signature and thumbprint.

In 2016, he threatened the media group Netflix with a billion- dollar lawsuit in relation to the television series Narcos in a letter if they continued to spread "lies about Pablo" and did not hire him as a consultant. Roberto claims that the rights to the Escobar story lie with the family and the company Escobar Inc , which he founded in 2014 together with Olof K. Gustafsson . After the death of Netflix location scout Carlos Muñoz in Mexico, Roberto reported that he was warning Netflix and other film production companies not to shoot anything in Colombia that referred to him or his brother, as this would be his country and it would be very dangerous without his blessing .

literature

  • Roberto Escobar: The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel . Grand Central Publishing, 2009, ISBN 0-446-17892-6 .
  • Roberto Escobar: My Brother - Pablo Escobar (OT: Mi hermano Pablo ) . Escobar Inc, 2008, ISBN 978-0-692-70637-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d time online - Roberto Escobar: The accountant
  2. ^ The Daily Bell - Roberto Escobar on Colombia's Cocaine History, Pablo Escobar and the Failed War on Drugs
  3. ↑ Image - Pablo Escobar's brother warns Netflix
  4. ↑ World - In the footsteps of Colombia's cocaine king
  5. ↑ BBC - El misterioso asesinato en México de Carlos Muñoz Portal, the asistente de producción que buscaba locaciones para la series Narcos de Netflix
  6. ↑ Gala - Brother of drug lord Pablo Escobar threatens Netflix
personal data
SURNAME Escobar, Roberto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Escobar Gaviria, Roberto de Jesús; Osito, El (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Colombian businessman and author
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Rionegro