'Pablo Escobar: My Father' Becomes Bestseller in Latin America; Escobar Jr. Says Father Helped Stigmatize Colombians
Juan Pablo Escobar has written a book about his infamous father, Pablo Escobar.
"Pablo Escobar: My Father" has become one of the best-selling books in Latin America for December, according to El Economista.
Escobar's son, who now goes by Sebastián Marroquín, spoke to Noticias Argentina about how his father continues to affect Colombians 21 years later.
"I have no doubt that my father was one of the biggest figures that contributed to the stigmatization of Colombians," he said to NA. "We are 46 million people in Colombia, and the delinquents are in the minority. But those who have committed crimes have done it in such a spectacular scale that it seems as though the entire society is immersed in this way of thinking and in violence, but it's not like that."
The book is dedicated to his father, notes Diario Uno.
"To my father, who showed me the path that should not be taken," the front of the book reads.
Marroquín explained if he had been asked to write the book two years earlier, he wouldn't have done it. He adds that the book isn't the absolute truth because it is made up of anecdotes his father told him in the last year of his life.
"It's not a book that apologizes for drug trafficking nor does it look to justify my father's actions, and I think he looks worse than what is even known," Marroquín said.
To write the book, Marroquín visited where his father grew up, lived and went to school. He asked his mother for more details, and he worked with a Colombian journalist who covered Escobar.
Marroquín also had his own thoughts on the current state of the drug trade in Colombia. He said that it is in a much larger scale than when his father was around, and he added he doesn't think enough is being done.
"It means there are two things happening," he said. "First, the fight against drugs is failing and second, the way that they are handling the problem is helping it grow."
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