Colombia's congress considers ban on Pablo Escobar souvenirs

Tourists buy souvenirs of the late drug lord Pablo Escobar, featured as a statue with a sign that says one will be charged for taking photos inside a store in Doradal, Colombia, Feb. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

BOGOTA, Colombia -

Souvenirs depicting the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar could be banned in Colombia if legislators approve a bill introduced this week in the nation’s congress. The proposal is criticized by vendors who sell his merchandise to tourists from around the world, but backed by those who believe the country should shed its image of mafia bosses.

The bill proposes fines of up to US$170 for vendors who sell merchandise that depicts Escobar and other convicted criminals, and would also enable police to fine those who wear t-shirts, hats and other garments that “exalt” the infamous drug lord.

“These items are revictimizing people who were victims of murderers,” said Cristian Avendaño, a representative from Colombia’s Green Party who drafted the bill.

“We must protect the right of the victims to recover...and find other symbols for our country.”

The proposal has been widely covered by newspapers in Colombia, where Escobar is seen as a murderous figure, linked to one of the most violent periods in the nation’s history.

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At the same time, the drug trafficker’s image is also heavily commercialized by locals who are eager to cash in on the growing fascination with the drug lord, among some tourists from North America, Europe and other Latin American countries.

Souvenir vendors in Bogota’s historic La Candelaria neighborhood said they were opposed to the initiative, which has been criticized for attempting to limit freedom of speech.

“I think it’s a dumb law,” said Rafael Nieto, a street vendor who sells magnets, and t-shirts with Pablo Escobar’s face on them, as well as more traditional souvenirs.

Nieto said he would stop selling Escobar merchandise if the bill is approved, to “avoid problems” with police. But he added that members of Colombia's Congress should instead focus their energies on lowering the city’s crime rate, and let him carry on with his business.

“Many people make a living from this” Nieto said pointing at a t-shirt that shows a copy of Pablo Escobar’s Colombian ID card.

“It’s not a trend that I came up with” Nieto added. “The Mexicans, the Costa Ricans, the Americans, are always asking me for Escobar” merchandise.

Another street vendor, who asked to be identified only as Lorena, said that she has also stocked up on items that depict the drug dealer, such as shot glasses, and magnets, because it is what international tourists are demanding, along with souvenirs depicting coca leaves.

“When you work as a vendor, you try to sell what is most popular,” Lorena said. “Everyone has their own personality, and if there are people who like a murderer, or a drug trafficker, well, that’s their choice.”

Escobar ordered the murders of an estimated 4000 people in the 1980s and early 1990s, as he established the powerful Medellin cartel and amassed a $3 billion fortune that made him one of the world’s richest people at the time.

The drug lord was gunned down in 1993 on a rooftop in Medellin, as he tried to escape from the search block, a unit of more than 300 police officers backed by DEA agents that was dedicated exclusively to capture him.

Escobar’s exploits and his crimes are well known in Colombia. But in recent years, his global fame has resurfaced thanks to a Colombian soap opera and a Netflix series that depicts the drug lord as a ruthless, but shrewd mafioso, who defies corrupt American and Colombian authorities trying to close in on him.

Merchandise bearing the drug dealer’s face, his ID Card, or famous slogans that are attributed to Escobar sells frequently at souvenir stands across the country, while in his hometown of Medellin, agencies lead visitors on historical tours that stop at sites related to Escobar’s life.

Representative Avendaño, said it was time for Colombia to shed its image as a country of mafia bosses.

“We cannot continue to praise these people, and act as if their crimes were acceptable,” Avandaño said. “There are other ways for businesses to grow and other ways to sell Colombia to the world.”

Avendaño’s said that his bill will call on the Colombian government to investigate how many people make a living from selling Escobar merchandise, and how much the market is worth.

The bill must go through four debates to be approved by Congress, Avendaño explained, adding that if the legislation passes, there will be a “transition period” where government officials work with souvenir vendors to find new ways to market Colombia.

Last year the South American nation refused a request to trademark the Pablo Escobar name, filed by his widow and children, to sell what they described as educational and leisure products.

In its decision, Colombia’s Superintendency for Commerce said that a Pablo Escobar brand would be “permissive of violence, and threaten public order.”

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The General Court of the European Union also denied a similar trademark request by Escobar’s family earlier this year, arguing that it went against “public policy and accepted principles of morality."

This story has been updated to correct Escobar’s year of death from 1993 to 1994.