paP

To Bogata and by Cama (luxury) bus, very comfy, to Medillin, to which I had never been.  A gritty, working city of 3 mil, arriving early in the morning I found a good flop then proceeded to see the sights.  To the Basilica de la Candaleria, completed in 1774, and the huge and impressive Catedral Metropolitana, 1931.  The Museo de Antioquia has 23 of Fernando Botero's sculpture's around it, like his paintings many of these feature himself.  Inside is an eclectic array of Art spanning Colombia's History as well as 92 of Botero's paintings and a small collection of foreign artists, it was pretty good.  Medillin is primarily known to the World as the center of Pablo Escobar's Medillin Cartel.  Pablo (Dec. 1, 1949 to Dec. 2, 1993) was the Ruler of a Cocaine Empire that controlled 80% of the world trade by it's height in the 1980's.  Beginning in 1975, Pablo began exporting tons of Cocaine primarily to the United States such that by the early 1990's he was worth 30 bil.  He controlled much of everything in Colombia through Plato o Plomo (Silver or Lead), thousands were killed but many more chose to be bribed and live.  The Storming of the Colombia Supreme Court on Nov. 6, 1985 by the M-19 Rebels in which 11 of the 25 Supreme Court Justices were killed was thought to be backed by Pablo.  On August 18, 1989, the uncorruptable Presidential Candidate, Luis Galan, was assassinated on Escobar's orders, one of many killings of high political and business figures in Colombia due to Pablo.  The huge amount of Cocaine smuggled into the U.S. by Escobar brought huge U.S. support for his Extradition to the U.S. which was what he feared.  A Compromise was reached in 1991 whereby Escobar would be imprisoned in palatial surroundings, but he continued to carry on his drug trade and ordered killings while in "prison."  The U.S.-backed Colombians then sought to send Pablo to a real prison, so Escobar escaped on July 22, 1992 and went on the run.  Hunted like a wild dog, Colombian Special Forces detected Pablo's whereabouts on Dec. 2, 1992 in Medellin (correct spelling), Pablo made a break for it and was shot through the legs and torso, with a fatal bullet fired behind his right ear from close range, as they weren't about to take him alive.  Much beloved today in Medellin due to his Cultivation of a Robin Hood Image and Charity to the Poor, there were 25,000 at Pablo's Funeral.  A Painting in the Antioquia by Botero is "Pablo Escobar Dying On A Rooftop."