The Glorification of Druglords

Moving to Milan after living in Ecuador my whole life definitely gave me new experiences I had never had before. For the first time ever, I was almost always surrounded by people that weren’t Latino American, so replying to the typical question of “Where are you from?” sometimes led to different – and even fascinating – responses.

So many topics were usually brought up after replying to said-question: how spicy the food is, how extravagant the dances are, and one that I am not fond necessarily of….Narco Culture. 

But it is hard to blame them. 

Ever since Netflix’s Narcos came out, Pablo Escobar has had a chokehold on people similar to the one that Jordan Belfort has on finance bros. He is almost celebrated as a hero – a druglord icon that made millions by the second, all while having these extravagant parties filled with exotic animals and getting to escape from the police seamlessly.

But they don’t see him for who he really was: a murderer, a rapist, and a man that single-handedly managed to not only stained Colombia’s, but also Latin America’s reputation even 30 years after his death.

THEY PREFERRED INVENTIONS BY SOME SCRIPTWRITERS IN CALIFORNIA TO THE TRUTH FROM THOSE WHO SUFFERED THIS STORY IN THE FLESH

- Sebastián Marroquín, Pablo Escobar’s son

It all comes down to how druglords like him and El Chapo are represented in the media. 

Netflix pretty much depicted Pablo Escobar and El Chapo as heroes, to the point where viewers want to become them. “I receive tonnes of messages from youths asking for help to be like my dad. They want to be that criminal, they send me photos dressed up like him, with his mustache, his hairstyle”, explained Marroquín during an interview.

Rappers like Migos basically praise Escobar’s lifestyle, indirectly feeding the brain of thousands of frat guys about how cool it is to be a drug-lord and how every single latino somehow sells coke.

But this doesn’t affect spectators. They get to pause Netflix and go back to their average lives. 

At the end of the day, it is just a show, right?

But it isn’t. 

Narco culture is very much present in Latin America. Violence and drug trafficking are still high in Colombia and Ecuador. Mexico has been fighting a drug war for over a decade. Cartels continue drug trafficking and kidnapping in Central America. And even more.

I recently stumbled upon this post on Instagram. It basically talks about the rise of a new drug trafficker named Marixa Lemus – also known as The ‘El Chapo’ of Guatemala, due to how she has managed to escape prison twice. 

And even though the article explains all of the crimes that she has committed, it was the comments of the post that made me feel sick to my stomach.

“Such a girlboss”

“A Netflix show in the making”

“Narcos S4”

But again, we cannot fully blame them. Their ignorance is fed by inaccurate shows and a lack of real, Latin American representation.

CARTEL DRAMAS LIKE NARCOS ARE FAIRY TALES FOR A NATION IN DECLINE, FLATTENING DIVERSE AND COMPLICATED COUNTRIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF A NATION THAT REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE HAVOC IT HAS WREAKED ON THE WORLD

There is one thing that everyone should know for sure though: 

Latin America is not a synonym for Narcos.