Maybe one of the most powerful biblical figures is forgiveness. And when it happens in earthly scenery, its effect is usually spine-chilling. One example that may leave its mark on national history for years to come is the forgiveness that Juan Pablo Escobar, the son of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, asked of the sons of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán and the country’s former minister of justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, both murdered by his father in the 1980’s.
On October 12, Juan Pablo, who now goes by the name of Sebastián Marroquín, will present a documentary that could also be understood as a subtle way of making amends in his father’s name, a man considered to be Colombia’s most feared criminal of all times.
According to those who have seen the movie, it is far from being a defense of Escobar. Just the title My Father’s Sins, is a telling clue. Last week, vía CNN, many saw a preview of a very symbolic scene. Sitting in a park bench in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Juan Pablo (Sebastian) and the son of Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, senator Rodrigo Lara Restrepo, appear to be having a conversation. To understand the power of this image, we must rewind 25 years, when minister Lara Bonilla, in agony after being shot by Escobar’s hit men, reached his house and was greeted by his eight-year-old son. He immediately helped his father into a car and went with him to the hospital, where he later passed away.
In the preview shown by CNN, Juan Pablo Escobar says: “After all, we are all orphans” and Lara responds: “The past is harsh. But the important thing is you are a good man, a man of peace. I am a good man, a man of peace. That’s it…let’s move forward.” Escobar’s face lights up with a smile and they embrace warmly. The image is powerful. It holds important symbolism for Colombia, a country enmeshed in a drug war for more than 30 years. “The embrace, the act of forgiveness, was not superfluous. I did not see him as the son of my father’s murderer. I saw him like another victim of the country’s violence, of the tragedy this country has gone through” explained Lara to SEMANA.
It is a peculiar way to make amends. And maybe it simply could not have happened any other way. With the extravagant lifestyle Escobar led and the magnitude of his atrocities, it is surprisingly fitting that his story’s finale happens on the big screen. In a certain way, the documentary can become an epic of forgiveness in Colombia. It is not a passing mention that in the movie’s credits all the young men involved in the pardon—Rodrigo Lara and Juan Manuel, Claudio and Carlos Fernando Galán—appearing as leading men.
The Letter
The story about how they got to this point is also worth telling. Nicolas Entel, a renowned Argentinean filmmaker whose mother had been Marroquin’s teacher in Buenos Aires, came up with the idea. The movie began filming in 2005 and it was kept secret until last week, when CNN’s Christiane Amanpour presented it as a segment of her special report on Medellín’s violence. Entel contacted the Galán brothers and Rodrigo Lara in 2007. They were all back in Colombia after years of exile, working in the public sector. Juan Manuel Galán and Rodrigo Lara are senators; Carlos Galán is city councilor in Bogotá and Claudio works in Cundinamarca’s Planning Agency. Entel broke the ice by telling them what a hard life Sebastian had been forced to lead. And then, he explained that a central line in the documentary would be to explain the parallel lives they and the Escobar family had led.
The Galan boys had not had good experiences with other Escobar movies. And they requested that the documentary not be an apology of the kingpin or a sensationalist narration of such painful years. After seeing the movie, they now know they were not mistaken.
“It is an unprecedented recount of everything that has happened in Colombia in the past 25 or 30 years” says Carlos. One of the most gripping moments in the movie occurred in august of last year. The director, in one of more than thirty trips to Colombia in the last five years, met with the Galans and Lara and told them he brought a letter for them authored by Escobar’s son. They got together in Claudio’s house and read it on the computer. The document is a shocking testimony. “Never like today have I felt such fear of writing a letter” says Sebastian Marroquin, “How do you write to a family that was terribly hurt by your father? How can you ask them for forgiveness without offending them? How can you look into the eyes of the children of leaders that promised to save your own country?". According to production crew, Sebastian had written a very long letter but was forced to cut it down to just five pages.
Carlos Galán recalls what he felt when he finished reading the letter. “It had a strong impact on me. You don’t know what to think. Do I have the right to forgive? What do I have to forgive if it was his father that committed such atrocities and not him? We knew it was an important message for Colombia that transcended us”.
“He confirmed what we have been seeing through the years: the children of drug dealers inherit their tragic destiny. He is also his father’s victim. While reading the letter I remembered what my father used to say, that the families of drug dealers were their first victims. And not until now did I understand it.”
The encounter
The letter was just the beginning of what would become the documentary’s climax and finale: a reunion between Juan Pablo Escobar and the children of his father’s victims. Coming back to Colombia was not easy for Escobar. He feared that some people in Medellin would still want to kill him and also, he didn’t know if he had any pending issues with the Colombian justice. A Bogotá-based lawyer helped him figure this out. And to minimize any possible risks, he decided to enter the country through the Ecuadorian frontier, the same one he had used to leave the country in November 1994, a year after the death of his father. In those days nobody wanted to get near them in Colombia, they were thrown out of the fancy Santa Ana neighborhood in Bogotá and in Medellin, his father’s enemies wanted to finish with his entire lineage.
A telling anecdote told by senator Lara shows the fear that accompanied Sebastian when he came to the country to meet the Galán and Lara himself. On an ordinary day, the senator was driving through La Candelaria, a colonial neighborhood in Bogotá close to Congress. Suddenly he spotted Sebastian walking around like any other tourist with shades and a camera.
Lara hit the brakes to greet him and while he opened the car door, Sebastian panicked. Lara had to yell “Sebastian, its me”. When Sebastian recovered, he could only say “I almost lost it”.
“We were supposed to meet in Marroquin’s hotel. A boutique hotel in 116 street and 15th avenue in Bogotá” narrates Juan Manuel Galán. “When he came down from his room, we could feel his nervousness."
"He started by telling us how hard it was to ask for forgiveness to a family who had suffered so much. And then he recognized my father’s battles and said his death had been a terrible and irreplaceable loss for Colombia.” “Then, I thanked him, and my throat choked up. I said we had nothing to forgive him. He has nothing to do with what Pablo Escobar did to us. I also reiterated that this meeting did not mean we would stop fighting for justice and truth. Because his father was not the only responsible one.” “He then said he accepted the fact that we had nothing to forgive him. But seeing as though he is the only one who can do it, he asked for pardon in his father’s name.”
The meeting started at 7:00 p.m and ended three hours later. Slowly, Sebastian eased into the conversation and told them all kinds of stories, about everything he had to go through with his mother and sister, and especially about traveling like nomads without a home until reaching Argentina on Christmas Day in 1994.
The Galans and Lara told him they had not had it easy either; they also had to live in exile. “I complain about my difficulties, but I do not dare compare them with yours” apologized Sebastián. When it was over, they shook hands and hugged. The picture of the meeting is now the screen saver on the computer of Pablo Escobar’s son.
Relief
The documentary was no longer a recount of passed events; it took on a life of its own. It was history in the making. The handshake and the hug did not only help Juan Pablo Escobar. Those who had suffered from his father’s atrocities were also relieved. “When we left the meeting, I was relieved” says Carlos Fernando Galán. “When they murdered by father, I felt very angry. Then, when they killed Escobar, I was comforted. Today, I find that absurd. Having the chance to sit with Escobar’s son made me realize I do not have hate inside me anymore. That gave me tranquility.” “He could have just as easily become a hit man out to honor his father’s death with revenge. That would have been easiest. He decided to take the high road: with this documentary he is assuming the costs of leaving his anonymity.”
His brother Juan Manuel also believes it is a true gesture of reconciliation. “Hearing Marroquin speak, I can understand what kind of life he has had to lead. Being Galan’s children is a blessing for us. For him, being Escobar’s son is a stigma.” He goes further and states this is a message for the country.
“This is about renouncing hate, even the hate you inherit. It is not however, a renunciation on justice and truth. Strange things happen in Colombia. After a murder, the victims publicly state they forgive the perpetrators instead of saying they want justice and truth. And in this sense, Marroquin is recognizing the crimes did happen, and that is very important.”
Senator Lara, on his part, remembers that when they killed his father, he felt absolute hate and even thought “its only a matter of time until I grow up and take revenge on my father’s death.” “My dad was murdered 25 years ago. The nine months he served as Minister of Justice were disturbing. He received calls every day letting him know they knew our schedule and that maybe someday he would never see Jorge, Pablo and Rodrigo (his three children) again. That day, he was already dead when he got home. I was 8 years old and I carried him, I helped him into the car and onto the gurney. But leaving the country has helped us eliminate our hatred. And if anything is clear for us is that the circles of violence cannot continue or be repeated. Even though I had nothing against Sebastian, I thought that shaking his hand or hugging him was important because we were sending a message of reconciliation to Colombia.”
And Sebastian Marroquin…
The son of Pablo Escobar is beyond relief. In the movie, one can see he has even gone through a physical metamorphosis. In the beginning, he has long hair and is overweight. In the last images, he looks slimmer and lighter. Without a doubt, this affair was a catharsis for him. He was even the one that decided to include the whole truth in the documentary. “Because if you disguise and distort this story, such a tough and harsh story like the one Colombians have had to live through, you run the risk of making the same mistakes again” he has said.
The documentary will premiere in the Mar del Plata festival, Argentina, and then it will be shown in Amsterdam. It will arrive in Colombia on December 10th.
But some questions remain: Why did he decide to embark on this project when he could have forgotten about his past? Why, after 15 years of yearning to “just be nobody” has he decided to return to the spotlight? “I do it because I don’t want to forget about my country”, he told someone close. “I want to have the possibility of returning to my country one day, I want to have that choice. I don’t’ want anybody to see us as a menace.”
Nicolas Entel, the film’s director, recalls one time when Sebastian Marroquin looked into the mirror and was frightened. He saw himself in one of his father’s typical poses. In that moment he realized it is possible to fear your own genetics. The good thing at least, is that he’s clear on that.