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5.1 Historical Inaccuracies

The Narcos T.V. series, although widely accepted by north american western culture, has been under scrutiny by many Colombian citizens living in the U.S., but mostly notably by Pablo Escobar’s son himself, Juan Pablo Escobar - Sebastian Marroquin, who has ranted publicly about his outrage towards the false depiction of his father and those involved in the events of the 80’s and 90’s. Juan Pablo Escobar exclaimed:

“En nombre de mi país y en honor a la verdad real de los hechos acontecidos entre los 80´s y 90´s me veo en la obligación de exponer lo gravísimos errores de una serie que se auto proclama como veraz, cuando dista muchísimo de serlo, insultando así la historia de toda una nación y de muchísimas víctimas y familias”- Juan Pablo Escobar - Sebastián Marroquín

[In the name of my country and in honor of the real truth of the events that occurred in the 80’s and 90’s, I see myself in an obligation to voice the grave errors of a t.v. series that auto proclaims itself as factual, when very far from being so, insults in this way the history of an entire nation and the numerous victims and families involved]- Juan Pablo Escobar

Historical Inaccuracies of Season 2 as told by Juan Pablo Escobar - Sebastián Marroquín

Pablo Escobar’s son, Juan Pablo, has in recent months taken out his public frustration towards the Netflix Series “Narcos” by speaking on some of the many historical inaccuracies of Season 2. When commenting on Season 1, he stated:

“De la temporada 1 ni les hablo para no aburrirlos con la larga lista. El mundo está definitivamente al revés y las historias es claro que cualquiera las cuenta como se le antoje la gana. Y encima resultan exitosas sin importar cuán mal contadas.”- Juan Pablo Escobar - Sebastián Marroquín

[Of season 1, it’s not even worth boring you with the long list of inaccuracies. The word is definitely upside down and the stories told make it clear that whoever tells them, no matter how they tell it, wins. Above all, they result successful without any consideration of how badly they are told]- Juan Pablo Escobar - Sebastián Marroquín

A list of the 28 inaccuracies of season 2, in english, can be found in an article published by the Telegraph

A list of the the inaccuracies as told by Juan Pablo Escobar - Sebastián Marroquín can be found in his original facebook post

Historians and those who wish to maintain a respect for Colombian history, would find this troubling. An abundance of factually wrong events represented in the t.v. series, when masking itself as truth has led many westerners to a misconception of both Colombian Culture and its citizens. This very article expresses its subjectivity by saying that Narcos “tells the story of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar”, without making any distinction of its biased and dramatized aspects. The show got simple facts like Escobar’s favorite soccer club wrong and more pertinent facts like characterizing Pablo’s brother Carlos Henao as a drug-dealer when he was in reality a noble man who sold bibles and worked as an architect. The range of inaccuracies on Narcos expands to even more important implicit dramatizations that have people characterizing Escobar as “sympathetic” when in reality the man was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands and indirectly for millions as Colombia has still not been able to recover from the stigma that he left it with. Adding insult to injury, Narcos also mentions the coined expression of Colombian culture of Magical Realism, "magical realism is defined as what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe. There is a reason magical realism was born in Colombia", and associates it with the show; falsely leading it's viewers to believe and associate the show with magical realism. In fact, while ignoring and never mentioning that the show has been dramatized and many aspects falsely added for dramatic purposes, the page cites quotes that falsely claim it's veracity, for example, by citing IGN as saying that “it's a true-to-life account” and  “sometimes to a fault”, insinuating that it is too real. Worst of all, although Season 2 has had many public backlash from the Colombian community, and most famously, Pablo Escobar’s son, the Wikipedia page writes, “the second Season generated greater reviews as compared to the previous season”, thereby totally ignoring the voice of Colombian citizens who are expressing their opinion of disgust towards this series.

Lastly, one aspect of the show that is implicitly overlooked is that the story is literally told through the eye of two americans, the two DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Peña. It is not told through the eyes of Colombia or Escobar. But yet, the show is mostly highlighting and using Pablo’s character as its clincher for the audience. In an article in The Economist, titled “The Real Narcos: Fact and fiction in the war on drugs”, the author writes, “the apparent realism of the programme, most of whose dialogue is in Spanish, runs counter to its occasional departure from the facts”, while detailing the directors and writers of using tactics of “invented neat explanations for some events that in fact remain mysterious”. An aspect of the author’s article that is both alarming to the author and to the Colombian citizens is that “whichever version the scriptwriters of “Narcos” go for will become the historical record as far as its millions of viewers are concerned”.

5.2 Juan Pablo Escobar’s, Sebastián Marroquín’s, “Pablo Escobar: My Father”

Juan Pablo Escobar, other wise known as Sebastián Marroquín, has voluntarily spoken out about the recent heroification of his father by appearing in the Argentine documentary film “Sins of My Father”, and then published a book in 2014 entitled “Pablo Escobar: My Father”.

Juan Pablo Escobar’s response to the heroification of his father?: “My father was no hero”.

He states that “the book strives to be objective and respectful of the countless victims, but without denying the love he had for his father”, a viewpoint that is needed in an age of alternative facts that indulge the false truths prevalent in youth today, that will consequently shape the political sphere and opinion of the Colombian nation in the years to come.

In response to the heroification of his father, Juan Pablo had the following to say in an interview with DW:

“I want those who read it, especially young people, to understand that these stories shouldn't be repeated. The way my father's story has been portrayed to the world encourages others to follow his example. That is to say, it creates a glamorous and inspirational product that many want to imitate. There are young people -- who don't know the story and who don't know the consequences of violence -- who see a TV series, watch a movie or read a book out there about my father's life and want to be like him. But my father is very far from being a hero. Some of these publications want to present him as a hero, so they end up leaving an unclear message about the consequences of his actions. I always say that if someone reads my book and wants to become Pablo Escobar, then I did a bad job”.- Juan Pablo Escobar

5.3 Dangers of Biographical Dramas Regarding Escobar

While “Narcos” is a show that in many ways is entertaining and does highlight many things in 80’s and 90’s Colombian society, there is a danger that comes with associating the show with a real person who affected the country in such a negative way. A comparison that needs to be made, while in no way attempting to state that it's the same, is with Hitler. How would the jewish community feel, and what would the public response be from our politically correct generation, if a dramatization was made around Hitler’s life and created a heroic figure out of him, while painting him as sympathetic? It is reasonable to suggest and predict, that there would be a public outcry. So why are the Colombian voices being ignored?

Colombia is a country, that due to Pablo Escobar, not only has suffered over 60 years of civil war from anti-military and guerilla groups that took over Pablo’s drug activities to continue funding their militaries, but has not been able to recover from the stigma associating them with cocaine, that has affected their economy for years. A show like Narcos, is not only personally painful, as a Colombian, to watch, but it is also painful for Colombia as a whole, as it brings to light, in a false way, an image that the country has tried painstakingly hard to erase.

All in all, knowing the pain that Colombia suffered due to Escobar’s cocaine trafficking and murderous, bomb planting tactics for power, any dramatization of his character should be very carefully portrayed. There are millions of people negatively affected by him and creating a show that glorifies his life style and creates sympathy on the part of the viewer, in many ways, disrespects the culture of Colombia. When profiting off the pain of an entire country, it would be at least cordial to repeat and reiterate that the show is not a true depiction of his life and that it should not be taken as such. For the moment, Narcos has failed to do so.