If you have a Netflix subscription, then chances are you have stumbled upon original series Narcos.
But behind the ‘glamour’ and the dramatic plot line lies a disturbing reality about drug smuggling, and the use of pregnant drug smugglers.
First of all, who was Pablo Escobar?
-Pablo Escobar helped found the Medellin Cartel, supplying and smuggling drugs around south America, the US, Canada and Europe.
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According to John Jairo Velasquez, Escobar’s ‘top hit man’, the drug lord killed around 300 people as well as allegedly masterminding the death of 3,000 other people.
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As in Narcos, Escobar had an affair with a TV anchorwoman named Virginia Vallejo. She later wrote a memoir about her romance named Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar.
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He was a man of opulent wealth, owning a mansion named Hacienda Napoles (which even had a zoo). The house is now a theme park surrounded by luxury hotels.
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Escobar made an estimated $30 billion as the ‘King of Cocaine’ by the time of his death in 1993.
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Escobar's end came following a search effort by the Search Bloc, coordinated by the US Joint Special Operations Command, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Colombian Police. He was killed by a gunshot to the ear before the Search Bloc posed alongside his dead body. The search for Escobar took over a year and costed hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Escobar’s wife and children lived in exile in Mozambique and Argentina. His son, Juan Pablo, later made a film about his journey making amends with Escobar’s victims.
**Smuggling and drug mules
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In the first episode of Narcos, we learn how the cartel smuggled cocaine to Miami from Colombia.
During one memorable scene, a group of women is lined up before cartel member as he explains exactly how they will smuggle pockets of drugs into the US.
He tells some of the woman that all they have to do is simply dip the bags in oil and swallow them, taking in 50 at a time.
He then turns to two pregnant smugglers and instructs them to swallow 70 on the grounds that authorities won’t search them due to their condition.
Predictably, one of the expectant mothers dies after arriving in Miami after accidentally absorbing over 12 grams of cocaine during the smuggling endeavour. Her baby also tragically died.
Though this is told in a fictional capacity, there is an all too painful truth behind tales such as this one.
In reality, smugglers prefer to use pregnant women as mules since rules against x-raying expectant mothers mean that they are spared the rigorous searches used in airports.
On top of this, drugs have reportedly been smuggled in the bodies of dead babies as they are carried through airport security. Truly horrific.
Cartels would offer thousands of pounds to expectant mothers to smuggle cocaine into the US, and as we see in Narcos, manipulate them into thinking that they are doing what is right for their children in the long term.
Aside from risking their lives, expectant mothers who work as drug mules also run the risk of being imprisoned for several decades should they be caught. Some countries also carry the death penalty.
Such circumstances mean that the child may end up in the care system should they not have a suitable guardian to care for them whilst their mother serves her sentence.
Drug smuggling involves many risks, and the tragedy it can lead to (as seen in Narcos) is a deterrent to avoid such a lifestyle.