Pablo Escobar, el patrón del mal 

Pablo Escobar, el patrón del mal portrays the life of Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar Gaviria from childhood until death. The telenovela is based on the book La parábola de Pablo (2001) by Alonso Salazar, journalist, and former mayor of Medellín (Colombia). The telenovela shows how and by what means Pablo Escobar became a feared drug trafficker and leader of the Medellín cartel. It also reenacts the Medellín Cartel's connections to Colombian politics and dramatizes the crimes the drug trafficker committed against prominent Colombian politicians in the 1980s. The producers of the telenovela, Juana Uribe Pachón and Camilo Cano Busquest, were themselves affected by Escobar's criminal activities. With the production of this telenovela, the producers wanted to preserve the memories of the victims of drug trafficking in Colombia, especially politicians, journalists, members of the security forces and the Colombian justice system. Many of them are represented in the telenovela with their real names. Contrary to the producers' intentions, the character of Pablo Escobar aroused sympathy among part of the audience. 

Due to the reactions that the series generated among the audience and the Colombian public, Pablo Escobar, el patrón del mal was the telenovela that created the basis for the GUMELAB project. It also broke audience records in Colombia and was broadcast internationally. The telenovela has been broadcast in more than 33 countries and is even currently available on Netflix (streaming platform). The episodes are also illegally available through Facebook, YouTube, Internet sites, and on copied DVDs and USB sticks. The telenovela sparked several controversies, due to the image of drug trafficking as an alternative for social advancement and political corruption conveyed as a constant in Colombia's recent history.

Sources and References

Contreras Saiz, Mónika (2017): 'Narcotráfico y telenovelas en Colombia: entre narconovelas y "telenovelas de la memoria"'. Hispanorama, n. 157, p. 26 - 31.

Reyes, Romina (2013): La historia no oficial del narcotráfico. The Clinic. Available online at HTTP: / /WWW. THECL IN IC. CL / 2 0 1 3 / 0 2 / 2 5 / CARLOS - MORENO - D IRECTOR -DE - EL - PATRON - DEL - MA L -EN - COLOMB I A - NO- HUBO -UN - AL LENDE - O -UN - CHE - ACA - LO - QUE - HUBO - ES -UN - PABLO - ESCOBAR /, last checked on 08.09.2019.

Wikipedia (2014): Discusión: Escobar, el patrón del mal/Archivo 1. Available online at https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discusi%C3%B3n:Escobar,_el_patr%C3%B3n_del_mal/Archivo_1. last checked on 23.07.2021.