THE TRUE LIFE OF PABLO ESCOBAR by Astrid Legarda

Author:Astrid Legarda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ediciones Gato Azul
Published: 2017-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter XXV

Mexico-Cuba Connection

Pablo had a dream he could never quite achieve: he wanted his own U.S.-made surface-to-air Stinger missiles. He looked for them in Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Miami—all the places U.S. soldiers had been at battle. Pablo believed that the missiles could only be found in such locations. The price of a single missile could reach up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the weapons black market. Pablo saw these missiles as vital to destroying helicopters and other larger threats.

With this great weapon in his hands, Pablo would no longer have to worry about helicopter transports. Even the president of the Republic would be a dead man. Pablo was sure that with good equipment and careful intelligence, these missiles could be devastating in an attack on Nariño Palace. Hundreds of offices and apartments in the palace’s vicinity had excellent views of the palace helicopter-landing pad. One could easily see when the presidential helicopter was taking off or landing, and an attack at the right moment with Stinger missiles could prove fatal.

El Patrón tried to get a hold of surface-to-air missiles in Cuba, not the actual Stinger missile but the Soviet version, but Pablo was not close enough to President Fidel Castro to obtain the missiles he wanted so badly.

Pablo was also looking for ways to get his drugs on the streets of the U.S. He often conversed with America’s enemies on the matter. He wanted to reach this goal on a grand scale. He had already accomplished such a goal in Nicaragua during the Sandinista rule. Eventually, with the help of Jorge Avendaño (alias the Crocodile), El Patrón reached Fidel Castro on the island of Cuba. The Crocodile connected him with Fidel’s brother Raul, and soon a cocaine trafficking operation began—final destination, Miami, Florida. Pablo made sure to continue his friendship with Fidel Castro. Throughout Pablo’s life, they never spoke in person, but they maintained constant communication through letters and third-party contact.

The trafficking deal was closed and the Crocodile traveled to the island with a false passport. There, he coordinated everything under the direction of Raúl Castro, and, in the space of two years, the operation was up and running. The cocaine was hidden in condoms and then packed with several preservatives into one-kilo bags, sealed with sticky tape (this way if there was ever the need to throw the shipment into the sea, we could always recover the drugs later). The shipments would leave from Port Buenaventura, Colombia, sailing by the Pacific to the Mexican coast, where they were received by our local partners. The shipments were then immediately loaded onto airplanes with Mexican markings on course to Cuba. With the support of the Cuban authorities, the airplanes coming from Mexico never had any problems. There, the Cuban military under the control of General Ochoa and an officer by the name of Tony LaGuardia, both of whom received instructions directly from Raúl Castro, took care of the merchandise, guarding it until the next leg of its journey.

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