Why Medellin celebrates on Pablo Escobar's birthday
by Adriaan Alsema December 1, 2015
Fireworks go off in Medellin every December 1, the birthday of Pablo Escobar. What began as a celebration of Escobar’s heir’s control over the city has strangely become part of the Christmas ritual.
While some in the city call it a Christmas tradition, the so-called “Alborada,” a literal explosion of fireworks at midnight, did not exist before 2003 and is highly controversial because it was originally imposed by paramilitary drug lord “Don Berna” to celebrate the defeat of his rivals in the city and humiliate authorities.
Berna was extradited in 2008, less than five years after he first ordered the gangs belonging to the “Oficina de Envigado” and militias belonging to the Cacique Nutibara paramilitary group to set off fireworks on Pablo Escobar’s birthday.
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With the impressive show of force, Berna made it clear to the local government and the population who was really running the city even though he had officially disarmed and demobilized his troops only five days prior.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/160164-2/
Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano, or "Don Berna" and some of the members of his death squad.
Escobar, getting off one of his planes, greeting some fool in a chinchilla jacket.
