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A top hitman for infamous
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, who confessed to murdering hundreds of
people, has been set free after 22 years behind bars, despite protests from
relatives of his alleged victims.
John Jairo Velasquez –
better known under his nickname ‘Popeye’ – was imprisoned for 30 years for
plotting the murder of a presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan, during the
1990 election race.
Velasquez was released
from the high security Combita prison under on Tuesday, with police providing
heavy protection for the man.
The former hitman granted
“conditional release ... for a
trial period of 52 months and 22.7 days,” said a judicial order
seen by the AFP news agency. “It's
really sad that an assassin who committed so many homicides was sentenced for a
single murder,” Gen. Carlos Mena, head of Colombia's highway
police, told AP.
During his prison stay,
the 52-year-old’s cooperated with law enforcement, providing evidence that
helped imprison other high-profile criminals.
In his earlier interviews,
Velasquez estimated his chances of being killed by his former opponents after
being released at 80 per cent, and it’s not clear whether the state will
continue to provide him with protection. The former hitman said that he now
plans to leave Colombia and settle abroad in order to protect his life.
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A
Colombian police officer stands guard at the entrance of Combita prison, while
John Jairo Velasquez Vasquez, aka 'Popeye' (not visible) - former leader of
drug kinpin Pablo Escolar's hitmen and confessed murderer of some 300 people -
is transported in a caravan in Combita, Boyaca Deparment, Colombia on August
26, 2014. (AFP Photo / Jose Miguel Palencia)
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Velasquez
joined the Medellin cocaine cartel before he turned 18, becoming one of
Escobar’s most trusted lieutenants. He was in charge of the drug lord’s army of
assassins, which killed scores of judges, politicians and journalists and
downed a commercial jet with 107 people aboard in order to prevent Escobar’s
possible extradition to the US.
While
in prison, Velasquez boasted to the media that he personally killed 300 and
helped plan another 3,000 hits.
He
even murdered his own girlfriend on Escobar’s order after she tried to become
an informant for the American anti-drug authorities. In an interview with
Semana magazine, ‘Popeye’ described it as one of the most painful episodes of
his life.
While
being in prison, Velasquez studied a lot, obtaining a number of academic
degrees, and tried to seek forgiveness from the relatives of those he killed.
He also wrote an autobiography, which he now plans to sell to Hollywood to be
adapted into movie.
Pablo Escobar,
whose Medellin cartel supplied the US and Europe with billions of dollars’
worth of cocaine, was gunned down by police in 1993. But Velasquez, despite his
repentance, never stopped admiring his former boss, telling El Tiempo newspaper
last year that “if Pablo Escobar were to be
reborn I'd go with him without thinking.”
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