: His role in planning the 1989 bombing of Avianca Flight 203, which killed 110 people.
In the autobiography Mi vida como sicario de Pablo Escobar (2016), Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez —infamously known as "Popeye"—provides a chilling, first-person account of his life as the chief assassin for the Medellín Cartel. The book serves as both a historical witness to one of Colombia’s darkest eras and a controversial attempt at personal redemption by a man who confessed to killing 250 people and organizing thousands of others. The Ascension of a Hitman Mi vida como sicario de Pablo Escobar autobiogr...
: The brutal reality of life inside Colombian prisons like Combita , where he survived multiple assassination attempts and led an internal "army" of prisoners. Themes of Loyalty and Betrayal : His role in planning the 1989 bombing
: His involvement in the murder of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento and the kidnapping of future political figures like Andrés Pastrana Arango. The Ascension of a Hitman : The brutal
The narrative offers an unvarnished look at the cartel's war against the Colombian state and its rivals. Key historical events Velásquez describes include:
A recurring theme is Velásquez's unwavering, almost cult-like loyalty to Pablo Escobar, whom he often portrays with a mix of fear and reverence. He explores the "logic" of the narco-world, where mistrust and treachery were constant and lives were taken for even minor transgressions. Despite his later "spiritual change" in prison, his loyalty remained a defining feature of his public persona until his death in 2020. Controversy and "Narco-Star" Culture