A Visit to Pablo Escobar’s Prison, La Catedral, Part III
posted on December 1st, 2015 in Colombia, Life and Death in the Andes (New Book), Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar, Muerto, by Fernando Botero
From my travel journal: Medellín, Antioquia:
My driver and I walk about the prison area, the air fresh from the recent rains, the sun out now, El Poblado like an erector set of pink rectangular skyscrapers set amidst dark green slopes below; we walk past the guard towers, once staffed by guards Escobar had hired, past abundant vines with light green leaves and silver-dollar-sized orange flowers, then approach a giant cement wall, part of the prison that Pablo built. On the lower wall is a giant billboard of sorts, with a photo reproduction of Pablo in prison wearing a Russian fur hat, behind the very bars he had paid for; above and behind the prison are thickly- forested hills, offering avenues of easy escape, which Escobar took advantage of the night that he fled the prison and went into hiding again.