Colombia-Escobar Remembered
12-2-1994
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ A year after drug kingpin Pablo Escobar died in a shootout with police, his 10-year-old daughter says she still weeps for him and asks: "Why did you leave me all alone?"
To mark the anniversary of Escobar's death, his wife, son and daughter sent a card and a bouquet of fragrant dried flowers by courier Thursday to news organizations, including The Associated Press. Inside the card was a photograph of Escobar being kissed by his wife and daughter as his son looked on.
The bouquet was an apparent attempt to have the Medellin cocaine cartel leader remembered not as someone who ordered the deaths of hundreds of people, but as a good family man.
Police tracked down Escobar - one of the world's most wanted and wealthiest men - by tracing calls he made to his family as he tried to help them flee a death squad.
As he made one of the calls on Dec. 2, 1993, police stormed his Medellin hideout. Escobar, a pistol in each hand, fled onto the red-tile roof and was cut down by a fusillade of police bullets.
"On that December 2 you left me alone in a pitiless winter where sadness abounds," wrote his wife, Victoria Henao de Escobar. "You left when I most needed your strength, which your gaze gave me. To bear living without you, your strength will become my strength."
Escobar had doted on his daughter, Manuela Escobar, a black-haired girl whose hearing was permanently damaged in a bomb attack against Escobar. In the card, Manuela told her dead father she had learned to ride horses and was deeply pained he could not be there.
"Why, poppy? Why did it happen? Why did I lose you? Why did you leave me all alone? As I say goodbye I am crying for you."
Juan Pablo Escobar, 17, wrote that he hoped to be united with his father's spirit after he dies.
Unlike the family, however, most Colombians remembered Escobar's death with relief.
In his attempt to dictate policy to the government, Escobar allegedly ordered the assassinations of presidential candidates, justice ministers, judges and police. He also waged a terrorist war against ordinary citizens, planting car bombs in shopping centers and residential neighborhoods that killed and maimed hundreds of people.
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ A year after drug kingpin Pablo Escobar died in a shootout with police, his 10-year-old daughter says she still weeps for him and asks: "Why did you leave me all alone?"
To mark the anniversary of Escobar's death, his wife, son and daughter sent a card and a bouquet of fragrant dried flowers by courier Thursday to news organizations, including The Associated Press. Inside the card was a photograph of Escobar being kissed by his wife and daughter as his son looked on.
The bouquet was an apparent attempt to have the Medellin cocaine cartel leader remembered not as someone who ordered the deaths of hundreds of people, but as a good family man.
Police tracked down Escobar - one of the world's most wanted and wealthiest men - by tracing calls he made to his family as he tried to help them flee a death squad.
As he made one of the calls on Dec. 2, 1993, police stormed his Medellin hideout. Escobar, a pistol in each hand, fled onto the red-tile roof and was cut down by a fusillade of police bullets.
"On that December 2 you left me alone in a pitiless winter where sadness abounds," wrote his wife, Victoria Henao de Escobar. "You left when I most needed your strength, which your gaze gave me. To bear living without you, your strength will become my strength."
Escobar had doted on his daughter, Manuela Escobar, a black-haired girl whose hearing was permanently damaged in a bomb attack against Escobar. In the card, Manuela told her dead father she had learned to ride horses and was deeply pained he could not be there.
"Why, poppy? Why did it happen? Why did I lose you? Why did you leave me all alone? As I say goodbye I am crying for you."
Juan Pablo Escobar, 17, wrote that he hoped to be united with his father's spirit after he dies.
Unlike the family, however, most Colombians remembered Escobar's death with relief.
In his attempt to dictate policy to the government, Escobar allegedly ordered the assassinations of presidential candidates, justice ministers, judges and police. He also waged a terrorist war against ordinary citizens, planting car bombs in shopping centers and residential neighborhoods that killed and maimed hundreds of people.
Comments
Post a Comment