At 16, while he was talking to his father on telephone, the phone call got traced and the Columbian police gunned down his father. Juan fled out of the country along with his mother Victoria, sister Manuela and his childhood sweetheart, Maria. They travelled many countries right from Peru, Mozambique to South America to take refuge. Their past connection with his father haunted them everywhere and they were denied entry in most of the countries. After the hardships they faced due to their sirname, finally, by entering a witness protection programme, they settled down in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Juan legally changed his name to Sabastien Marroquin, married Maria, and is living a comparatively normal life in Buenos Aires as an architect and Industrial designer. He is now 32.
Does this seem like an interesting hindi feature film story? Well, it’s not!
It’s the real life story of “Juan Pablo Escobar”, the son of the most dreaded drug mafia of Columbia- Pablo Escobar.
In the eighties, Pablo Escobar almost ruled Columbia. He bought cocoa paste from Peru and sold the cocaine in the USA after refining it. Soon his business grew bigger and more dangerous in the form of a notorious cartel – the Medellin cartel. He followed the rule “Plata o plombo” which literally means “Silver or lead” which meant that any politician or judge coming in his way would either be bribed or else killed.
The very promising presidential candidate Luis Galan and the then Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara lost their lives in the hands of Pablo’s henchmen for standing publicly against his cartel and it’s illegal drug trafficking. The otherwise ruthless Escobar was extremely generous with the common people of Medellin. He donated large sums to build churches, schools and homes. He made a special place for himself in the hearts of the people of Medellin.
When there was increasing pressure from the United States of America for Pablo to be handed over to them under the charges of illegal drug trafficking, the Columbian Government, completely suppressed under Pablo’s threatening reign, found a middle way by asking Escobar to surrender himself to the Police and he was sentenced to 5 years in Jail. Interestingly, Pablo was allowed to build a jail for himself named “The Cathedral”. It had all the amenities and luxuries including a soccer field and a zoo. When he started killing the traitors of his cartel in the Cathedral, the Columbian Government decided to shift him to the normal jail. Pablo then went into hiding.
One day in 1993, while in hiding and untraceable, he was talking to his son, Juan, on telephone and the conversation extended just a few minutes longer. Those extra minutes cost him his life as his call was traced by the Police who gunned him down on a rooftop in Medellin. That was the end of Pablo Escobar, the ruthless, dreadful drug mafia of Columbia.
It was also the beginning of the turbulent life of a pacifist son, Juan Pablo Escobar.
The hardships of drifting from country to country seeking refuge and the torturous fight with the notoriety of the name Escobar, made Juan a positive peace-lover.
“Violence and hatred is inherited in Columbia. But I don’t want to inherit my father’s sins. I am his son. Don’t be like my father”! This is the audacious message 32 year old Juan, now, Sebastien Marroquin, gives to the Columbian people. He apologises publicly to the victims of his father’s ruthless crime. He personally met the son of Rodrigo Lara, the Minister of Justice and the sons of the presidential candidate Luis Galan whose lives were ended by his father.
“Los pikados de mi padre” (The sins of my father), is the documentary film which communicates this message of expiation and of peace to Columbia.
I read about the release of this film few months back in a daily newspaper and I was extremely curious to know the whole story. It was worth sharing it with you.
“The biggest victim of the drug-trafficking trade, apologizing to the other innumerable victims of his father’s cruelty!
Intriguing, isn't it?
