celebrating and cashing-in on the ghost of cocaine drug-lord Pablo Escobar

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Quite by coincidence, I first arrived in the city of Medellín on the first anniversary of the killing of Pablo Escobar. The notorious drug-lord was gunned down as he fled across the red tiles, so distinctive in Medellín, of a roof in the well to do La América neighbourhood of the city. I was never that interested in Escobar nor the mainstream media’s obsession with the cocaine trade but, inevitably, it was not long before I found myself chasing the shadow of Pablo that is cast across the city of Medellín.

Much of what I encountered 25 years ago has changed beyond recognition or faded away, or been faded away with grey paint and dynamite…

Before, his influence was stronger, but it was concealed, hidden away in the hearts and affections of those who respected and/or who had benefited from the capo….

However, the memory of Pablo has not faded: it has been coloured in, painted and venerated in a tourism industry that has sprung from his memory, with true tales and shaggy dog stories, as authentic as the guacas buried in the capo’s former properties, like those dug out of the ruins of the Hacienda Nápoles, the second time I returned to Pablo’s country residence.

many years ago is now very changed and part of the post-Narcos tourist industry which has multiplied exponentially, only out-stripped by the hippos from his Hacienda Nápoles that now roam the Magdalena Valley.

Beyond the city, others can visit the countryside hacienda Nápoles, where he had a personal private zoo whose four original hippos multiplied and spread throughout the middle Magdalene river region.

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“Pablo remains and Pablo’s remains are an industry”