This is John Deny, teenager I met through a friend. He caught my attention when my friend mentioned that John was an admirer of Pablo Escobar who was the leader of the biggest cocaine cartel in Colombia, who was captured and killed in the 90's. I live in Medellin, Colombia, where John Deny lives, and where Pablo Escobar built his cocaine empire through murder and corruption. I was visiting one day the Museum of Antioquia here in medellin, and taking a look at famed painter fernando Botero's sculptures and paintings, and when I came close to paiting by Botero that depicts Pablo Escobar being killed, I was stunned to see an old man in front of the picture weeping openly. In the painting, Botero has Escobar falling backwards while bullets exit his body. The old man wore the hat typical of country folk from the region around medellin. What struck me was how the man was saying over and over again how Escobar had been... "extremely good to so many people." Escobar was responsible for untold number of murders in Colombia, while simultaneously acting like a modern-day Robin Hood figure. In one case, he built and gave away an entire neighborhood to the poor. Personally, it is often tragic to see teenagers now-a-days idealizing gangsters. But in order to understand John Deny's fascination and idealization of a figure like Escobar, I think it is important to understand the historical context that fed his fascination. Marco Aurelio
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