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A review by tbr_the_unconquered
Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw by Mark Bowden
4.0
Belonging to a minority who hasn’t watched Narcos yet on Netflix, there was next to nothing I knew about the exploits of Pablo Escobar. The contents of the book offer a comprehensive view on the Escobar phenomenon in Colombia and across the world and also is an account of the manhunt that eventually brought him down. As it chronicles the rise and fall of a crime lord, the book moves at the speed of a thriller and is quite well researched and comprehensively written. If it was not for the too obvious way in which the author leaned towards the Americans, this would have made for a splendid work of non-fiction.
The rise of Escobar as the undisputed drug boss of Colombia speaks much about the state of affairs in Colombia of old. The degree to which corruption had rusted the machinery of the government needs to be read to be believed. Escobar was also shrewd enough to understand how best to employ fear to achieve the status of a living legend. He lived flamboyantly and rivalled any legitimate business mogul in displays of wealth. When the Forbes magazine itself featured him as one of the richest men alive, the notion grew within Escobar’s criminal enterprise that they were reaching some levels of legitimacy equal to a large business house. The entire government machinery was more or less in his pockets and his influence reached everywhere in society across all stratas. Playing the role of a rich Robin Hood, Escobar even pandered to the whims and fancies of the general populace with the clever manipulation of media. With increasing revenues from the drug business Escobar grew so omnipotent and in the process made two enemies. The United States was one of the biggest markets that Escobar catered to and this brought him eventually to the sights of the US law enforcement. The second was when Escobar overstepped all the lenience that the Colombian government was showing him and unleashed a string of murders through the nation – judges, police men and even their families fell like flies in this carnage. Like the proverbial straw the broke the camel’s back, the Colombian governments finally decided to shake hands with the Americans and the tables turned on Escobar. This is part I of the book and is a roller coaster ride. The research that Bowden has done for these chapters is brilliant and is stocked full of facts and figures of Escobar’s early life.
Part II of the story deals with the manhunt which was only rivalled later in history by the money and effort spent to bring down Bin Laden. The Americans brought in technological support and also manpower in the form of Delta force and the SEAL’s who assisted the Colombians in tracking Escobar down. The job however was not easy for the hunters as Escobar and his men eluded them for years and continued to carry out judgements and executions even when in exile. Pushed beyond their usual limits, there came to the fore Los Pepes who began rivalling Esocbar in brutality and began taking out Escobar’s associates and friends. The theories surrounding this group and their connections to American military/intelligence establishments is yet to be proved but this tactic of an eye for an eye did bring Escobar out of hiding and finally led to him being gunned down.
There is a strong sense of anti-climax here if you consider this : At the start of the chase, Escobar was being touted as the thousand headed demon who controlled everything related to drugs but by the time he lay dead under a hail of bullets the drug empire were controlled by a host of other players. In the words of one of the officers who led the chase, the death of Escobar hardly put a dent in the overall scheme of things. It is also here that the author comes across as staunchly pro-American. While the Colombians mostly are portrayed as incompetent and corrupt (with the exception of Colonel Ramirez maybe), the Americans are knights in shining armour. Bowden is smart enough to avoid such a treatment all through the book and yet it surfaces from time to time in the narrative. This was my only gripe with the writing as such.
Recommended. I should now watch Narcos !
The rise of Escobar as the undisputed drug boss of Colombia speaks much about the state of affairs in Colombia of old. The degree to which corruption had rusted the machinery of the government needs to be read to be believed. Escobar was also shrewd enough to understand how best to employ fear to achieve the status of a living legend. He lived flamboyantly and rivalled any legitimate business mogul in displays of wealth. When the Forbes magazine itself featured him as one of the richest men alive, the notion grew within Escobar’s criminal enterprise that they were reaching some levels of legitimacy equal to a large business house. The entire government machinery was more or less in his pockets and his influence reached everywhere in society across all stratas. Playing the role of a rich Robin Hood, Escobar even pandered to the whims and fancies of the general populace with the clever manipulation of media. With increasing revenues from the drug business Escobar grew so omnipotent and in the process made two enemies. The United States was one of the biggest markets that Escobar catered to and this brought him eventually to the sights of the US law enforcement. The second was when Escobar overstepped all the lenience that the Colombian government was showing him and unleashed a string of murders through the nation – judges, police men and even their families fell like flies in this carnage. Like the proverbial straw the broke the camel’s back, the Colombian governments finally decided to shake hands with the Americans and the tables turned on Escobar. This is part I of the book and is a roller coaster ride. The research that Bowden has done for these chapters is brilliant and is stocked full of facts and figures of Escobar’s early life.
Part II of the story deals with the manhunt which was only rivalled later in history by the money and effort spent to bring down Bin Laden. The Americans brought in technological support and also manpower in the form of Delta force and the SEAL’s who assisted the Colombians in tracking Escobar down. The job however was not easy for the hunters as Escobar and his men eluded them for years and continued to carry out judgements and executions even when in exile. Pushed beyond their usual limits, there came to the fore Los Pepes who began rivalling Esocbar in brutality and began taking out Escobar’s associates and friends. The theories surrounding this group and their connections to American military/intelligence establishments is yet to be proved but this tactic of an eye for an eye did bring Escobar out of hiding and finally led to him being gunned down.
There is a strong sense of anti-climax here if you consider this : At the start of the chase, Escobar was being touted as the thousand headed demon who controlled everything related to drugs but by the time he lay dead under a hail of bullets the drug empire were controlled by a host of other players. In the words of one of the officers who led the chase, the death of Escobar hardly put a dent in the overall scheme of things. It is also here that the author comes across as staunchly pro-American. While the Colombians mostly are portrayed as incompetent and corrupt (with the exception of Colonel Ramirez maybe), the Americans are knights in shining armour. Bowden is smart enough to avoid such a treatment all through the book and yet it surfaces from time to time in the narrative. This was my only gripe with the writing as such.
Recommended. I should now watch Narcos !