On Behalf of All Colombians
Colombia - the wonderfully exotic country located in the north of South America, full of beautiful women and famous soccer players, great coffee and lively parties, vibrant celebrations, majestic landscapes, lush beach getaways, and lots and lots of drugs.
Oh - hold on a moment.
Although ideally I would love to talk about all the good things my country has, I feel that nothing better will appeal to the mentality of students, some of whom are poorly informed, than direct words about how Colombians really feel about this shameful stereotype. Don’t worry, you can find all the good stuff about Colombia within a few clicks, it’s just a matter of reading and having the will to inform yourself.
The stereotype of “the country of drugs and mafia” is not new. It has existed ever since Pablo Escobar became the most powerful cartel leader in the world (obviously before his death). However, almost three years ago, pop culture decided to drop the topic once more through the very high-rating show: Narcos. The viewers might not see it if they don’t know about this dark period in Colombia’s history, but the producers show Pablo Escobar in a very morbid way. He doesn’t seem to be the nasty murderous insane person he was, but rather he is portrayed as a genius who managed to fool the government, the police, his wife, his family and everyone, and as a reward became morbidly rich and famous.
While Escobar spent his money on zebras, hippos, and lions he imported from Africa to build his own petting zoo, thousands of brave Colombian policemen put their lives at risk by combating with fire against Escobar’s sicarios (hitmen). While he organized luxurious parties for his friends, hired underaged prostitutes and famous singers and artists to perform for him, innocent civilians died because of the hundreds of car-bombs he placed all around Colombia. While he went on extravagant trips to exotic destinations, 110 civilians died on the Avianca flight 203, which exploded mid-flight due to a bomb he had implanted under a seat. While he was pretending to be the “Robin Hood” of the less fortunate, at the same time he set a price of 1,000,000 COP (equivalent to 300 euros) on each policeman’s head in the city of Medellín, which resulted in the death of 400 hundred policemen in 1990.
It is upsetting to see how students in the IE community seem to glorify this man through their social media accounts, or simply in their behaviour. I want to be clear: I don’t care how wealthy you are or how you decide to spend that wealth. Being morbidly rich and famous is hardly something worthy of admiration. It’s completely unacceptable that so many in the community seem to associate wealth with domination, as if they were some sort of despotic king, as if a drug lord like Escobar who can manipulate everyone and get what he wants is something noble, as if there isn’t a real, human cost that can be measured in blood. I will definitely admire ambition - it can be healthy in inspiring success - but I will stop the minute that ambition links with corruption, treachery, and obsession for wealth.
I understand that the influence of pop culture is strong in our community, and that the image of Pablo Escobar portrayed by Netflix can hardly be removed from the viewers. However, if we incentivize people to write about the topic, to defy the stereotypes and invite readers to inform themselves, the image of Pablo Escobar as an all-mighty king will fade away, and everyone will understand that as fun as watching a show like this might be, there is a harsh scarred reality that us Colombians have to carry around wherever we go.
So to you, my international readers, I invite you to enjoy your Netflix accounts as much as you want, but not without having read about Colombia, or without having talked to a fellow Colombian student. If you become a wiser audience member, you’ll be able to see all the other wonderful aspects of Colombia that are hidden behind the media smokescreen. I am certain when you visit, you’ll want to stay there forever.
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