THE CATHEDRAL:-PART8

With darkness, fog and rain providing cover, Pablo told his men to simply walk out through the hole that Roberto had cut in the fence, one after the other, five minutes apart. Hoping to blend in with the military units surrounding the prison, most of the men had put on army fatigues. Pablo went first. He positioned himself to watch the others emerging and everything going on around them.

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Due to the poor visibility, Roberto got lost. After wandering around afraid, he found the hole in the fence at around 2 am.

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The group set off down a wet slippery surface that presented a risk of injury or death. Confronted by a rock face, the brawniest went first and allowed the others to stand on their shoulders. While thorny vegetation prickled them, they held hands going down another slope. After two hours, visibility improved as the fog thinned. Realising they'd gone in a circle and hadn't achieved much distance from the prison, they traded expressions of shock and frustration. They needed to keep moving because they could easily be shot. Pablo estimated that they had two hours left to evacuate the area.

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The sun was up when they reached a neighbourhood called El Salado. People were going to work and children to school. In filthy ripped clothes, Pablo and his men emerged like vagrants. They headed for a farm belonging to Memo, a trusted friend.

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They knocked on the door. The groundskeeper answered, but didn't recognise them. Once it dawned, he let them in. They stripped off the soaked clothes compressed to their weary bodies. While their clothes were washed, they finally rested.

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Almost an hour later, there was frantic banging at the door. Bracing for a gunfight, they grabbed their weapons and took aim. The door opened. In came the neighbours with a hot breakfast for the visitors. Other neighbours patrolled the streets to watch out for the army. Pablo and his men cleaned themselves, shaved and put on fresh clothes.

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After the general outside the Cathedral had refused to launch an assault, the president had ordered in special forces. A press release was prepared, stating that Mendoza and the colonel had died in a shootout. At first, the plane carrying the troops couldn't land due to the fog. In the morning, the troops travelled up the slope in trucks. The army units already there gave the truck drivers the wrong direc tions and they ended up back at the airport.

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In Pablo's room, the captives and the guards watched the news report the set-backs with the raid. Through a shortwave radio, they listened to the preparations outside as various units prepared to launch an assault. One of the units — trained by the Americans — was infamous for once having killed everybody in a building on behalf of an emerald dealer. Knowing this, the colonel started praying.

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"Can I go outside for a look?" Mendoza said.

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Bodyguards allowed him onto the porch. The rising sun was illuminating the fog. Due to the poor visibility, Mendoza's imagination ran wild with visions of his executioners closing in. Hoping that they'd recognise his business suit and not shoot him, he dropped his poncho and succumbed to the chilly air.

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Gunfire. Explosions. Screams.

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The commander of the prison guards was opening a door as the special forces launched their assault. A hailstorm of bullets dropped him dead. Of course, it was later reported that he'd opened fire on them.

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Bodyguards dragged Mendoza back inside.

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"Doctor, please! They're going to kill us! Help us!"

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"I've been telling you that all night! Now it's too late!"

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Mendoza crawled to the bathroom and coiled his body behind the toilet, hoping it would shield him. Realising the glass would shatter and injure him, he crawled back to the living room and joined the colonel who was crouched next to a prison guard. The commotion grew louder. Mendoza attempted to leave the room.

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"Get on the floor unless you want to be killed!" a prison guard yelled.

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Mendoza and a guard tried to raise Pablo's mattress to hide under, but it was too heavy to move. He got down on the floor and braced to die. A grenade detonated nearby. As he twisted away from the explosion, his forehead met the barrel of a gun held by a black muscular man. With gunfire and bangs and blasts erupting all around, the special-forces sergent holding the gun chucked Mendoza against a wall and sat on him.

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"We're going to try to get out of here," the sergeant said. "Just look at my boot. Don't think of anything. Just look at my boot." They crawled onto the porch and behind a wall.

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"When I tell you to run, run."

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With the raid raging and smoke stinging his eyes, Mendoza sprinted uphill towards the gate with the sergeant behind him yelling, "Run! Run! Run!" Mendoza had never moved so fast in his life. He accidentally hit a wall and broke two ribs, but the pain didn't register as his adrenaline propelled him. He bolted out of the main gate, where the general was awaiting his return.

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After catching his breath, Mendoza said, "General, is Escobar dead?" The look on the general said it all. "Oh my God!" Mendoza said. "He got away! How could he get away?"

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The raid netted five of Pablo's men. Twentyseven guards were charged with suspicion of cooperating with Pablo.

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Drinking coffee at Memo's house, Pablo listened to the radio reports, while helicopters buzzed overhead. Roberto's son called a radio station and stated that they were hiding in a tunnel under the prison with weapons and food. He told a reporter that Pablo would surrender and return to the Cathedral if the original terms were reinstated.

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Hoping to unearth the tunnel, the government sent construction equipment to the prison, so that the troops could start digging.

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Explosives were detonated in the fields.

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Pablo gazed at the activity through a window. "The only thing they'll find is the money in the barrels," he said, referring to $10 million that had been buried.

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The radio reported that Pablo had ordered the assassination of all of the top government officials. Hoax bomb threats and evacuation drills at schools were widespread.

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On TV in the evening, the president called for calm and promised to protect the escapees' lives if they surrendered, but he never mentioned reinstating Pablo's original deal.

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Some US news outlets reported that Pablo and his men had stormed out of the prison in a hail of gunfire, with their weapons blazing. These stories increased support for George HW Bush to send soldiers to Colombia to apprehend Pablo and to incarcerate him in America.

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When darkness came, the men left Memo's and trekked through the woods. At the Cathedral, explosions were still going off as the troops searched for the tunnel. At another farm, Pablo called his family and urged them to ignore the news. They ate and set off again.

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Outside a farm, five German shepherds launched at them. They couldn't shoot the dogs because the noise would have alerted the authorities. One bit El Mugre on the leg, drawing blood. Pablo threw some snacks at the dogs, which distracted them. He stayed with the dogs while the others moved on and then followed everyone.

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At 3:30 am, they arrived at a friendly farm. A driver took Roberto to see his mother, so that he could explain the situation. He didn't want to stay long, but she insisted on making some food for him and Pablo. Unable to say no, Roberto positioned himself at a window and watched out for the police.

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When Roberto returned to the farm, some of the group had moved on because Pablo felt they'd be harder to find if they split up. More soldiers were constantly arriving in the area around the Cathedral, hoping to flush them out. For two days, they stayed at the farm, watching TV reports and listening to the radio.

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On July 24, 1992, Pablo recorded a statement, offering to surrender if he could go back to the Cathedral. He said the arrival of the troops had taken them by surprise. He called Mendoza a liar as he had never been kidnapped or threatened. "As for the aggression carried out against us, we won't take violent actions of any nature yet and we are willing to continue with the peace process and our surrender to justice if we can be guaranteed to stay at the Envigado jail [the Cathedral], as well as handing control of the prison to special forces of the United Nations."

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At the end, he said he was in the jungles of Colombia, which prompted the government to send soldiers and helicopters there.

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They had been at the farm for twenty days when 5,000 soldiers were dispatched to the area. With helicopters arriving, they ran into the forest and escaped into the jungle. Unable to ascertain their location, the army kept dropping bombs, but missing them. For twelve days, they slept on hammocks, occasionally awakened by the explosions going on around them.

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