Editing Pablo Escobar (section)

==Early Life and Rise to Power==
Born in Rionegro, Antioquia, Colombia, and raised in Medellín, Escobar grew up in a modest family, the son of a farmer and a schoolteacher. Displaying entrepreneurial tendencies early on, he engaged in petty crimes like selling fake diplomas and smuggling stereo equipment as a teenager. By the 1970s, he entered the drug trade, initially smuggling marijuana before focusing on cocaine, which was becoming highly profitable due to rising U.S. demand. Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, a sophisticated network that controlled every stage of cocaine production and distribution, from cultivation in Colombia to trafficking routes into the U.S.
By the 1980s, the Medellín Cartel dominated the global cocaine trade, supplying an estimated 80% of the cocaine consumed in the U.S. Escobar’s wealth was staggering, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $3 billion by 1987 (equivalent to over $25 billion in 2025 dollars). He used his fortune to build a cult of personality, funding housing projects, soccer fields, and charities in Colombia to gain public support, while simultaneously orchestrating brutal violence, including assassinations, bombings, and attacks on police, judges, and politicians who opposed him.