Club Medellín
Pablo Escobar was already on the run for quite some time when he reached an agreement with the Colombian government in 1991 to go to prison for a maximum of five years, without risking to get extradited to the United States.
In this agreement Escobar managed to agree on some extreme measurements in his favor. For example the prison, La Catadral, was built to his specifications and he was given the right to choose who would guard the prison. The guards he chose were of course the ones who were loyal to him, so he could do whatever he wanted to do.
The amenities inside La Catedral were almost unimaginable for a prison housing Pablo Escobar. The prison featured a bar, jacuzzi, waterfall and a football pitch. Next to these luxurious amenities he also had a telescope installed, so he could look down on to the city of Medellín. This way he could also look at his family while he was talking to them on the phone. These are also various reasons why the nicknames of La Catedral were Hotel Escobar and Club Medellín.
Because Escobar was aloud to design his own prison a lot of people believed the prison wasn’t really built to keep him inside, but to keep his enemies outside. Reports also tell us that the Colombian government turned a blind eye to Pablo so he could continue running his drug empire while serving time. The actual reason of his imprisonment was the interference of the American government. Now he was in prison they were happy with the Colombian government for capturing the most notorious drug lord in the world.
Location
Escobar chose a perfect location for the prison for multiple reasons. First of all the prison was built on a steep mountain, therefore it was hard for rival cartels or the military to attack the prison. Because of the location fog came over after 6 o’clock in the evening and it was almost impossible to strike the facility at night. Last but not least Escobar chose this location so he could watch out over the city of Medellín and keep an eye on his family. The coordinates of the exact location of La Catedral are 6°07’04.0″N 75°35’06.0″W.
What happened after?
In 1992 the Colombian government decided Pablo Escobar had to be moved to a standard prison. In July of the same year he went on the run. A group of 600 man named Search Bloc had the mission to capture Pablo Escobar. Finally 16 months later on the 2nd of December 1993 Search Bloc killed Pablo Escobar. For a long time La Catedral was deserted, until a group of monks arrived at the complex in 2007. They renovated the entire place and since that time they have been living at the place.
Our products
In our collection we added the coordinates of La Catedral. We chose for the coordinates to link the T-shirts to Pablo Escobar, but it wouldn’t be too obvious. You can find the coordinates on our “Catedral T-shirts” in the colors white and green.
Take a look at our White Catedral Tee or our Green Catedral Tee.
