#player11

Victory photo op! Dion Crowder #player11 and myself #togetherwehunt (at Starfire Sports)

President Gaviria had enough when Escobar fled from prison. Not only was his approval rating dramatically down, but his leadership was in question from everyone including the Attorney General. He made a bold statement that he would not negotiate with Escobar. That was always Pablo's leverage. He used violence to get his way, but during this manhunt, any Pablo-initiated tragedies would be considered casualties of war. And this war was going to end up with Escobar dead.

President Cesar Gaviria did not want to withhold the news of Escobar's prison escape from the public. His transparency allowed every news outlet to report that Escobar was a fugitive with the hope that he would be found quickly. In a news conference, he claimed that the army had not found a tunnel and did not explain how Escobar evaded the 400 soldiers surrounding the prison. The people of Colombia immediately questioned how this could happen. Escobar's former hitman, Popeye, later claimed the escape was nothing special. He says they didn't have to bribe or shoot anyone or even leave in a getaway car. He said Pablo built the wall around the prison with concrete, but four of those structures were made with plaster. They pushed them down with both feet and just walked right out. The escape, along with the kidnapping of the Vice Minister, humiliated the Colombian government on a global scale.

Initially, the Medellin Cartel heard that presidential candidate Cesar Gaviria would be on the flight as well as DEA informants and members of the Cali Cartel. Escobar tried to kill all those enemies with one bomb, but none of them were on that flight. Gaviria actually flew on a private jet instead, after being told by Murphy not to board at the last minute as depicted in the series. With the death of 107 innocent passengers, Escobar officially became a terrorist.

Gaviria was able to avoid Escobar’s Avianca Airlines assassination attempt and finish his term as president. In 1994, he became Secretary General of the Organization of American States until 2004, helping to facilitate negotiations between many Latin American countries.

Cesar Gaviria’s run for president came entirely out of necessity. After Luis Carlos Galán was assassinated by Escobar’s goons, Colombia needed someone to continue the fight Galán had started. During Galán’s funeral, his son nominated Gaviria to be the president Colombia wanted and needed. And he won. He was elected in 1990 by conducting a campaign almost entirely on television due to security reasons, since killing presidential candidates seemed to be the in thing that year. In addition to Galán, three other candidates were killed, although not all by the hand of Escobar.

Search Bloc was created in 1992 by President Cesar Gaviria to apprehend Pablo Escobar. Before that, it was called the Elite Police Corp, which is the time period shown in this clip. It wasn’t until Escobar escaped prison that the actual term Search Bloc came to be. Also, it was led by Colonel Hugo Martinez not Horacio Carrillo, who is a character inspired by many of the generals in the organization. What is true is that it was made up of incorruptible men that could not be bribed.

Gaviria eventually became Pablo Escobar’s biggest foe. After Escobar took out several important politicians who were a threat, Gaviria was elected President of Colombia and dedicated his efforts to providing the resources needed to hunt down Escobar. But he didn’t stop there. He wanted to end drug trafficking in general and tried to rid Colombia of the Cali Cartel in the process