The ‘Narcos-fever’ has been gripping the entire world since Netflix released the second season of the highly-rated television show, last week.
Co-incidentally, the fever seems to have transcended into football as well, and it involves Pablo Escobar’s main hitman during the glory days of Medellin Cartel – Jhon Jairo Velazquez, also known as ‘Popeye’.
The ex-Escobar aide, who is tied to the murder of approximately 3000 people for the Colombian drug lord, released a shout out video for Uruguayan star Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, congratulating them for being great warriors.
https://twitter.com/ValeFlet/status/772542188064481284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“Hello, I am Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, Popeye, the personal hitman for Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. I’m here to send a strong salute to the Uruguayan football team, and champions Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani,” Popeye said.
“You have my love, my respect because you are the strength of your people, the pride of your people. From Medellin, Colombia, I congratulate you for being great warriors. Receive all my love and respect from these streets. Big hugs,” he added.
At the height of Medellin Cartel’s war with the Colombian government and other cartels, Popeye was behind 300 murders and approximately 200 car bombings. He was eventually captured after the assasination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989, but he was only convicted for that single murder, as opposed to the thousands he had committed prior to that.
Popeye was sentenced to 30 years of jail in Colombia, though he was eventually released on parole in 2014. Strangely enough, he has evolved into a YouTube star in Latin America, amassing over 166,000 subscribers on his channel. These days, he dedicates hours of his day to answering questions from viewers, besides publicly campaigning for the young people of Colombia to stay away from crime.
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