ON THE RUN:-

Pablo's escape had embarrassed the president, who was appearing on TV daily, trying to explain the situation. He told the American ambassador that he didn't have a problem with US troops on Colombian soil. He wanted all of the help he could get to quickly fix the Pablo situation.

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Grateful to have miraculously survived the raid, Mendoza flew back to Bogotá, where the president told him, "We must hide nothing in this. Don't take time to prepare a response. Just get out there and tell people exactly what happened."

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Mendoza brought the Americans up to speed. They were delighted that they could resume the hunt for Pablo. It was an opportunity for George HW Bush to distract the public from domestic issues and to boost his popularity. Catching the person he'd labelled the biggest cocaine trafficker in the world would surely increase his chances of re-election. The DEA in Bogotá sent a cable to Washington:

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The BCO [the local US embassy] feels that Escobar may finally have overstepped his selfperceived illegitimate boundaries and has placed himself in a very precarious position. Escobar's gall and bravado may lead to his ultimate downfall. But then again, the GOC [government of Colombia] has always bowed to Escobar's demands in the past. This current situation again provides the GOC with an opportunity to demonstrate its dedication to bring all narco-traffickers to justice, including the most notorious and dangerous cocaine trafficker in history, Pablo Escobar.

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Amid hyped-up threats that Pablo might assassinate him and set bombs off in America, George HW Bush dispatched Delta Force, Centra Spike, the DEA, the FBI, the ATF, the CIA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the army, navy and the air force after Pablo. Out of all of the agencies, Centra Spike quickly obtained results by flying planes over Medellín with technology that picked up Pablo's calls.

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Pablo responded to America's involvement with a fax:

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We, the Extraditables declare: that if anything happens to Mr Pablo Escobar, we will hold President Gaviria responsible and will again mount attacks on the entire country. We will target the United States Embassy in the country, where we will plant the largest quantity of dynamite ever. We hereby declare: the blame for this whole mess lies with President Gaviria. If Pablo Escobar or any of the others turn up dead, we will immediately mount attacks throughout the entire country. Thank you very much.

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George HW Bush approved a $2 million reward for information leading to Pablo. The US Embassy in Colombia offered $200,000 and relocation to America for any useful information. Advertised on TV, the reward program included pictures of Pablo and his henchmen.

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The Centra Spike eavesdropping enabled the authorities to determine that Pablo was using at least eight cell-phones. He viewed himself as a victim of a violation of his agreement with the government and wanted to return to the Cathedral.

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Centra Spike overheard Pablo tell a lawyer that he feared the raid on the Cathedral was a US-sponsored assassination attempt: "The situation arose because they went in there shooting and all, and we were defending our lives, but our intention was to comply with the government until the end… It is possible that one or two persons were smuggled into the jail. I won't deny it… that happens in jails all over the country and the world, and, in reality, I am not to blame. The person to blame is the person who lets them in. So that if people entered shooting and all, and we had information that Americans were participating in the operation, we have to put our Lives first. We have families!" He said that incarceration outside the Cathedral was unsafe.

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"Yes," a lawyer said. "That was the first issue that I explained to the president."

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Pablo criticised Mendoza's attempt to construct a new prison at the Cathedral. "There was a delineation of the jail. It had been arranged. We made the design. We reworked the map, so the only thing that we didn't bargain for was a jail different from that one. And need a public guarantee from the president that he will not take us out of the country... The problem is, I have some information... that there were some gringos [Americans] looking for Bush's re-election, so we need their [the Colombian government's] guarantee in this respect… Do me a favour. Tell Señor President that I know he's misinformed. Now, they say that I am perpetrating crimes from jail." Even if he were found guilty of committing a crime while in jail, Pablo said that they could have extended his stay up to a maximum of a life sentence, but they had no legal right to move him from the Cathedral.

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"Perfect," the lawyer said. "We'll see that all this works out."

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"Anyway, accept my apologies," Pablo said. "There'll be no more acts of violence of any nature, although some resentful people have been making some phone calls. People want to create chaos. But anyway, we are well disposed and We want to get this thing resolved… Tell the president that we were very uneasy because the gringos were going to be a part of the operation."

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Another lawyer told Pablo, "We saw the tapes of the grey uniforms [CIA] and all that.

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"Of the gringos?" Pablo said. "And how many were there?"

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"Well, we could see some uniforms on TV. This afternoon we asked for tapes from the evening news programme."

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Pablo wanted to parlay CIA and American involvement into trouble for the Colombian president.

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"There are two things that are very important," Pablo said to another lawyer. "When you have a chance of making a statement, say that what caused the biggest concern to us was the presence of the gringos. The fact that the army would be going along with the gringos. What explanation can be given for that?"

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"Yes. The press is already after that. We're on top of that."

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"OK. And another thing. The president has to say it officially and make an official commitment. Everything is a contract. Now it's going to be a contract signed by the minister who makes the commitment that if tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I kill the warden and get thirty more years, they don't transfer me from here. This is a commitment."

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The Colombian police converted the Cathedral into their headquarters, with the com mander based in Pablo's room. Delta Force members used Pablo's observation tower at the prison. They were fed map coordinates from Centra Spike when Pablo got on a phone. They started to home in on a neighbourhood called the Three Corners. The next time Pablo made a call, his location was located and photographed. Upon receiving the information from Delta Force, the Colombian commander dismissed it. The Americans contacted the president and suggested he send a small covert unit. Instead, he ordered a full assault by Search Bloc special forces.

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From the Cathedral, Delta Force watched the headlights of the special-forces convoy ascending a hill towards the Three Corners, while another set of headlights descended on the other side, which they assumed was Pablo and his men escaping. Troops spent four hours searching the empty ranch.

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No matter what information the Americans provided to the Colombians, the response was always inept, which allowed Pablo to escape time after time. With General Maza out of the loop, the Americans needed someone just as gung-ho whom to liaise with. That person was Colonel Martinez, the head of the Search Bloc, whose troops had killed Pablo's beloved cousin, Gustavo.

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Prior to the Cathedral, Martinez had been hunting Pablo for two years. Having been unsuccessful, Martinez hadn't received the promotion he'd hoped for. Just like with Maza, Pablo had made many attempts on his life. In 1991, he was on a flight to Spain with his family when a bomb was found on-board. The plane had to make an emergency landing otherwise the bomb would have exploded at a certain altitude. In 1992, a car bomb had been found by the Colombian embassy on the route Martinez took to work. Afterwards, the embassy asked Martinez to avoid their building.

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With Pablo free, Martinez jumped at the chance to finish the job. The Americans provided him information they had received through their reward program. An informant had located Tyson, one of Pablo's hit men who resembled the boxer Mike Tyson.

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