To trigger the raid, "The party has begun" was whispered over a radio to Search Bloc troops. An explosive charge blew a steel door off its hinges and blasted it through a wall. The door flew into the air and dropped nine stories. Twenty-six troops charged inside. Due to the iron bars on the windows, Tyson couldn't escape. He was executed with a bullet between the eyes. His death was recorded as due to a gun battle with the National Police.
.
.
Pablo responded the same day. His hit men shot four police. Over the next two days, five more died. Pablo paid $2,000 per killing. Over six months, sixty-five police were killed in Medellin, including many of the men working for Martinez. Even though their identities were supposed to have been a state secret, many of them were executed at home or travelling to work.
.
.
Pablo infiltrated the Search Bloc headquarters. Centra Spike sent Pablo's location to Martinez and promptly overheard a call from the headquarters to one of Pablo's men: "They're on their way. They're coming for you." A recording of the call was sent to Martinez, but he couldn't recognise the voice. He fired some of his men, but the warnings to Pablo continued. The implications were So grave that Martinez tended his resignation on the grounds that he could make no progress in such a hopeless situation that was out of his control. His resignation was refused.
.
.
After Martinez returned to his headquarters, suspicion fell on a policeman who guarded the perimeter of the base. They fed him some false information, which was forwarded to Pablo. The policeman confessed to accepting money to kill Martinez. He'd been practising with a gun with a silencer.
.
.
Martinez and Pablo probed each other like chess players. Trying to shut down Pablo's ability to communicate and run his organisation, Martinez oversaw a blackout of cellphone use in Medellín. Pablo switched to radio and couriers. Knowing that Martinez was listening to his calls, Pablo displayed a remarkable ability to use code words and numbers with his underlings. Nothing fazed Pablo. Every time Martinez tried something new, Pablo shifted his strategy with the indifference of a grandmaster.
.
.
With so many agencies after him, including foreign mercenaries wanting the reward offered by the Americans, Pablo was slowly getting backed into a corner. A Colombian judge had ruled against his claim that his escape from prison had been legitimately taken out of fear for his life. The president was resolutely against Pablo returning to the Cathedral. Even though the forces against him were increasing, Pablo felt confident enough to give a radio interview in mid-1992.
.
.
"Do you regret having surrendered a year ago?"
.
.
Pablo responded that he did, but it had been necessary to stay alive. "Does one seek escape alternatives when you have arrived at a jail to which you have voluntarily surrendered?"
.
.
"Were you the man in charge in the prison?"
.
.
"I wasn't in charge... I wasn't just any prisoner. I was the product of a peace plan, whose cost wasn't high for the government.. They simply gave me a dignified prison and special conditions previously agreed to by the government with the lawyers and me."
.
.
On the subject of his extravagant living quarters in the Cathedral, Pablo said, "Even if it is the most beautiful mansion in the world, if you're limited in your movements and watched by tower guards with weapons and soldiers, then that is a prison. But I'm not going to evade responsibility in the sense that I permitted some curtains and some special furniture, and I'm willing to pay for that error in accepting the most humble cell in any jail in Antioquia as long as my rights are respected and I'm guaranteed that I'll not be moved for any reason."
.
.
"Is your head worth more than the one billion pesos offered by the government and more than the two and a half billion pesos offered by the government of the United States?"
.
.
"It seems my problem has become political, and could be important for the re-election of the president of the United States."
.
.
"At this moment, you've become once again the most sought-after man in the world. The Colombian authorities, other secret services, DEA agents, the Cali Cartel, former accomplices of your activities, deserters from your organisation, indirect or direct victims of terrorist acts. Whom do you fear the most? How do you defend yourself from them?"
.
.
"I don't fear my enemies because they are more powerful. It has been my lot to face difficult circumstances, but I always do it with dignity."
.
.
"For you, what is life?"
.
.
"It's a space of time full of agreeable and disagreeable surprises."
.
.
"Have you ever felt afraid of dying?"
.
.
"I never think about death."
.
.
"When you escaped, did you think about death?"
.
.
"When I escaped, I thought about my wife, my children, my family and all the people who depend upon me."
.
.
"Do you believe in God and the hereafter? In heaven and hell?"
.
.
"I don't like to speak publicly about God. God, to me, is absolutely personal and private. I think all the saints help me, but my mother prays a lot for me to the child Jesus of Atocha, that is why I built him a chapel in Barrio Pablo Escobar. The largest painting in the prison was of the child Jesus of Atocha."
.
.
"Why have you been willing to risk having yourself killed?"
.
.
"For my family and for the truth."
.
.
"Do you accept that you have ever committed a crime or had someone killed?"
.
.
"That answer I can only give in confession to a priest."
.
.
"How do you think everything will end for you?"
.
.
"You can never foretell that, although I wish the best."
.
.
"If it depended on you, how would you like to end your life?"
.
.
"I would like to die standing in the year 2047."
.
.
"Under what circumstances would you commit suicide?"
.
.
"I have never thought about those types of solutions."
.
.
"Of all the things that you have done, which ones are you most proud of and of which are you ashamed?"
.
.
"I am proud of my family and my people. I'm not ashamed of anything."
.
.
"Whom do you hate and why?"
.
.
"In my conflicts, I try not to end up hating anybody."
.
.
"What advice have you given your children? What would you do if either of them dedicated themselves to illegal or criminal activities?"
.
.
"I know that my children love me and understand my fight. I always want the best for them."
.
.
"What do your wife and children mean to you?"
.
.
"They are my best treasure."
.
.
"Do you accept that you are Mafioso? Does it bother you that someone says that about You?"
.
.
"The communications media has called me that thousands of times. If it bothered me, I would be in an insane asylum."
.
.
"What is it that most angers you and gets you out of control?"
•
•
•