
The Colombian Hit Man Who Became a YouTube Star - SonicSoul
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/world/americas/john-jairo-velasquez-colombia-youtube-pablo-escobar.html
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baristaGeek
Medellin is my hometown (I'm actually spending a few weeks here), all of my
family's previous generations are from Medellin and we are one of the innocent
families that were affected by the Medellin Cartel in the 80s and 90s.
Therefore, I feel the need to expand a little bit on this -btw, great-
article.

First clarification: Average people don't admire Pablo Escobar and his
disciples. What's true about Escobar is that he made philanthropic efforts
with the aim of socially developing Medellin's suburbs and that's where the
admiration towards him comes from, but this is not 'Pablo Escobar's kingdom'
or something like that. Normal people know that he caused more damage than
progress. BTW, safety is an order of magnitude higher two decades later.

Second clarification: Popeye is actually a smart guy. Since he was released on
parole he started this Youtube channel where he has shown he is a great
content creator and promoter, he is also running his own company (on a legal
industry) among other things. People are liking his videos more than disliking
them because the channel is actually really good as a channel, but we all know
he was an assassin.

Third clarification: Colombia is in a huge social transformation process
again. Colombia has had drug cartels, three extreme-left guerillas and one
extreme-right paramilitary group. The negotiation processes with one of those
guerillas (M-19) and with the paramilitary (AUC) were successful. Druglords
were shot down. Right now the government is in a new negotiation process with
the biggest of the 2 remaining guerillas (FARC). In order for a long-term
peace to take place, normal people will have to accept the fact that these
people will be reinserted into society and they will be our neighboords,
coworkers, etc. In some way it's good that people are accepting to forgive (to
some extent) Popeye, just the same way they have forgived and will have to
forgive groups outside the law.

In conclusion we could become a role-model for failed states, and this is an
example that shows why that is true.

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mahmud
I'm from Somalia and I can assure you the Colombian experiment is being
watched with a keen eye.

We too have murderous killers reformed to some sort of tribal elders.

Our violence, much like yours, has been mostly profit/power-driven. Except
ours got tremendously worse with the introduction of Jihadi ideology.

I pray to FSM for the safety of both our nations. Stay safe, and may Colombia
and Somalia stay safe. Con todos mi amor, hermano/a!

~~~
mafribe
Interesting. Could you say something about why the jihadi ideology was
introduced in Somalia, by whom, and why it was able to take hold?

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dopamean
Am I crazy for thinking this is a pretty serious ask of someone who is
presumably just a regular person from Somalia. I could be way wrong and
"mahmud" may have some great insight into this question. It just seems like
someone would write an entire dissteration on after having spent many years
conducting research.

~~~
arcticfox
Well, the lay-person's understanding of it would be interesting as well. Like
asking an American "Can you tell me about your war for independence against
the British and why it happened?" You _could_ write a dissertation on it, but
it's also interesting to hear the tl;dr that a citizen believes (correct or
not).

