The former police colonel who for decades had claimed he killed Pablo Escobar lied and in fact stole the drug lord’s favorite gun, according to weekly Semana.
Hugo Aguilar, who led the Search Bloc operation on the day that Pablo Escobar was killed in 1993, has long claimed killing the drug trafficker. He even published a book about it called “This is how I killed Pablo Escobar.”
The photo that made Hugo Aguilar famous (Image credit: Periodismo Sin Fronteras)
However, according to others, Aguila has been lying through his teeth since that fateful day in December 1993.
New information brought to light by journalist Daniel Coronell confirmed previous claims that Aguilar did not kill Escobar, but tampered with evidence at the scene by stealing the dead drug lord’s Sig Sauer P226.
The Sig Sauer became public knowledge when the drug lord handed it in before entering his personally designed prison, La Catedral, in 1991 and recovering it after his jail break the next year. How Escobar pulled that of is still a mystery.
A Sig Sauer P226 handgun similar to the one once owned by Pablo Escobar. (Image credit: Xenopedia)
Escobar’s favorite gun never entered the chain of custody or the National Police museum, which to this day keeps the drug lord’s latest belongings in its archives, according to museum director Major Humberto Aparicio.
The debate over who killed Escobar has persisted for over two decades as Aguilar has not been the only to claim firing the fatal shot.
The late Carlos Castaño, the founder of paramilitary groups “Los Pepes” that helped the police and DEA, claimed that he fired the shot. The extradited “Don Berna” also attributed the killing to the group that would later become the AUC, but has claimed his brother Rodolfo was the one who shot Escobar.
Aguilar’s claim was the most widely acknowledged, until now.
Colombia’s Vice President and former member of the search bloc, Oscar Narajo, said in a recently published book that not Aguilar, but an anonymous policeman killed Escobar.
To be precise, a member of the Police who, in the very closed history of the institution and with his protection in mind, has always been known as “Sangre e’yuca,” because of his very white appearance. A member of the Search Bloc, he was the one who killed Escobar with a shot from a rifle.”
Vice President Oscar Naranjo
Semana implied that Aguilar’s only contribution that day was stealing Escobar’s gun to keep the firearm as a personal trophy.
Videotapes of an old, unpublished documentary on Escobar were found in an archive in Lisbon, Portugal, two weeks ago.
I swapped Pablo’s gun. I stopped his watch and handed it in, and I swapped guns. I threw mine to the side and took his, I kept it for the story it tells.
Hugo Aguilar
Aguilar has never been far from controversy and was arrested in 2011 for ties to the paramilitary organization, the AUC, formed by the Castaño brothers after Escobar’s death.
Former governor arrested over paramilitary ties
His son, who was the governor of the Santander province between 2012 and 2015, organized a parade in the provincial capital of Bucaramanga when Aguilar was released from prison after having served his sentence.
Most recently he was criticized for buying a Porche after claiming he could not afford to pay reparations of $2.1 million imposed by the Supreme Court of Justice to his victims.
Aguilar can now add theft, embezzlement and manipulation of evidence to his already impressive criminal record.
