“Popeye” holding up a book about cartel chief Pablo Escobar. / AP
“Popeye,” who killed over 300 for the Medellín cartel, is freed after serving three-fifths of his sentence
Jhon Jairo “Popeye” Velásquez Vásquez, Pablo Escobar’s chief assassin, has been released from prison after serving 23 years.
Four days prior to his release, a Colombian judge expedited the
proceedings for his probation status. At 9pm on Tuesday night, the
52-year-old convict stepped out into the streets in the company of
Public Defender officials, shielded by a motorcade of armor-plated
vehicles. Popeye had sent a handwritten request to officials that
morning to ask for protection.
The former convict has admitted to killing more than 300
people and ordering the death of over 3,000 others during a period of
heavy cartel violence from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Yet the
former assassin – who entered the criminal underworld at the height of
the cartel’s reign, when he was just 18 – is afraid of freedom. He knows
there is a price on his head and that he has made a lot of enemies
given the crimes he committed, and the fact that he was a key witness in
several trials – including the one related to liberal presidential
candidate Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento’s murder in 1989. Alberto
Santofimio Botero, a fellow politician, was convicted for his part in
the murder.
Popeye’s release was scheduled for Monday, but was delayed
until Tuesday night so that officials could make sure he did not have
any pending charges. Meanwhile, victims were trying to understand how a
drug trafficker who terrorized the nation two decades ago could be
leaving prison after serving just three-fifths of his sentence.
The operation for Popeye’s release became the mystery of
the day. As time passed, photojournalists crowded in front of the gates
of the maximum security prison with their cameras ready to capture his
departure. The facility is in Cómbita, two hours outside of Bogotá.
The police had to coordinate a deployment of security
forces to escort the freed man. The first group traveled with him to the
Albarracín toll booth on the highway toward Bogotá. Another group
picked him up and accompanied him to the capital. His final destination
was unknown. Local media outlets say Popeye will join a rehabilitation
group to help with his reintegration into society.
While in prison, Popeye studied for 14 diplomas and earned a
degree in environmental sciences. The coldness with which he described
his crimes has always surprised listeners. “If Pablo Escobar were born
again, I would go with him without giving it a thought,” he said in an
interview. Yet he has also said that he was a “retired criminal” who was
in his “winter quarters.” In February 2013, he told El Tiempo
newspaper that, once free, he would like to have a chance to redeem
himself for the crimes he had committed. “I am a man who is looking for
an opportunity in society. A man who is at peace with himself. When I
leave, I repeat, I have no intention of hurting anyone. I am not afraid
of justice because I’ve realized that even for a man like Popeye there
can be justice.”
Popeye turned himself in to the authorities in 1999
alongside Pablo Escobar. He stayed by his capo’s side in the prison that
Escobar himself built and from which he escaped one year later. The
former hitman will be on probation for four years. He will be required
to hold periodic meetings with authorities and keep his commitment to
not break the law again.
His release has opened old wounds from the war on drugs – wounds that have yet to heal.
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