Wiz Khalifa’s Pablo Escobar Grave Visit Causes Outrage In Colombia

Rapper Wiz Khalifa has ignited controversy after his recent trip to Medellin, Colombia, where he visited the gravesite of infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. Khalifa was in the city to perform at a concert with Puerto Rican rapper Tego Calderon, and during his stay in the capital of Antioquia, the 29-year-old took the opportunity to visit the grave of Pablo Escobar and the Monaco building.

As reported by the International Business Times, the “See You Again” singer laid flowers and a marijuana joint by the headstone of the drug kingpin. However, this was not the only place that Khalifa decided to visit during his time in the South American country. As mentioned above, he also visited the Monaco building, which was bombed by the rival Cali cartel in order to try and kill Escobar and his immediate family.

Khalifa, who is known for his prolific marijuana use, caused more controversy after he posted images of his Pablo Escobar grave visit to Instagram.

According to a report from Scroll, Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez said Wiz Khalifa’s actions amounted to “advocating crime” and that he owes the people of Colombia an apology. He said that instead of visiting the grave of the notorious criminal, Khalifa should have brought flowers for those killed by Escobar.

“It shows that this guy has never had to suffer from the violence inflicted by these drug traffickers,” he said.

Khalifa was described as a fraud and a “scoundrel” by the mayor, who called for respect for the thousands of victims who lost their lives during Escobar’s drug reign.

Colombian society had been suffering from clashes between the various revolutionary guerrillas and paramilitary groups since the 1980s. This period saw the spectacular rise of drug cartels, criminal organizations centered on drug trafficking that amassed massive fortunes. The head of the Medellín Cartel, Pablo Escobar, was an iconic figure of this period.

In 1974, he undertook the creation of a cocaine production and distribution business that would grow over time into a vast criminal organization dedicated mainly to drug trafficking: the Medellin Cartel. With Pablo Escobar as chief, the group began its criminal activities in 1976 when Escobar was arrested with 19 kilos of cocaine. However, his case was later dismissed. The organization prospered rapidly, and by the early 1980s, Pablo Escobar had already owned a considerable fortune.

Today, decades after his death, the story of Pablo Escobar is an immensely painful burden for Colombians and especially for Antioquenos, a region where the so-called cocaine czar laid the foundations of his cartel and made its capital, Medellin, the most dangerous city in the world. Today, his macabre story continues to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for television series like Narcos that “fascinate” the public.

Pablo Escobar and his Medellin cartel are reportedly responsible for about 4,000 killings, including the bombing of an airliner in which all 107 people on board were killed.

Drug trafficking has determined much of the country’s political history in the last 40 years. The government of then-Colombian President Cesar Gaviria offered huge rewards for any information about his whereabouts. For more than a year he managed to evade capture. Finally, on December 2, 1993, Pablo Escobar, the wealthiest drug kingpin in history, was gunned down while attempting to flee from a hideout in his home base of Medellin by scrambling across a neighboring rooftop.

[Featured Image by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images]