Pablo Escobar's Son: Why I Gave Up My Vow of Revenge and Work to Reform Drug Policy Paul Imison - The Independent
go to original September 8, 2015

Sins of My Father / Pecados de Mi Padre: This is the incredible story of Pablo Escobar, the infamous boss of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel, told for the very first time by his son, Sebastian and his widow Maria Isabel Santos. (Red Creek/mm)

In 1994, the most powerful drug traffickers in Colombia gave Sebastian Marroquin, the 17-year-old son of Pablo Escobar, a choice: leave the country forever, or face certain death.

The meeting occurred months after Escobar was gunned down in a standoff with Colombian security forces on a rooftop in Medellin, the city where his international drug trafficking empire was founded. “After my father was killed, I vowed revenge against everybody responsible,” Mr Marroquin, now 38, told The Independent. “I retracted that promise with a gun pointed to my head. Later, my mother, my sister, and I left for Argentina, never to return.”

At just 17, Mr Marroquin, who changed his name from Juan Pablo Escobar, was effectively heir to the largest drug trafficking empire in history. Born in 1977, his childhood coincided with the rise of Escobar as public enemy No 1 in both Colombia and the United States. But there was more to the fateful decision than simply fear of reprisals.

“Drug trafficking destroyed my family,” Mr Marroquin insists. “It gave us the world, and then it took it away.” Softly spoken and articulate, Mr Marroquin does not come across as the son of the world’s most legendary gangster. Speaking to The Independent at a quiet, and smart, restaurant in Mexico City, he arrives to the interview dressed casually and chooses a table as far away as possible from prying ears.

...Now an architect and public speaker, as well as a devoted husband and father, Mr Marroquin has spent the past 20 years trying to escape the Escobar shadow. After years of silence, he participated in a 2009 documentary about his father’s life and decided to write a book giving his side of the story. “It’s a story that needs to be told,” he says, “so that Colombia and other countries don’t repeat the same mistake.”

Read the rest at The Independent

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!