Research Paper On My Father Juan Escobar

In his recent autobiography, Pablo Escobar: My Father, Juan Escobar (2016) described and shared the details of his life as the son of a powerful and notorious narcoterrorist. His father, Pablo, was the leader of the Medellin drug network that distributed most the world’s cocaine supply during between the 1970s to the early 1990s (Rubio, 2013). Pablo’s rise to power led to increasing violence against the Colombian state, the United States (U.S.) authorities, and rival cartels (Rubio, 2013). Consequently, Pablo’s family had to undergo those ordeals as well, particularly his son, Juan Escobar.

Juan wrote about his life which was closely tied to his father’s life, even after his father’s death. Pablo’s actions, status, and reputation had huge knock-on effects on Juan’s life. Juan also provided his reflections on how life is in Colombia during that period, and why “Colombia produces people like my father” (Escobar,

The autobiography illuminates the wider political and social context of Juan’s victimization process – consequently how he had to contest his own victim label (Mawby & Walklate, 1994). Ultimately, his autobiography allows us to challenge the “victim” label and the circumstances under which the label can be applied (Walklate, 2007, p.50). Accordingly, this paper begins with a key summary of Juan Escobar’s testimony and how the critical victimology perspective can shed light on Juan’s victimization process. Subsequently, this paper critically analyzes Juan Escobar’s process of acquiring the victim status by analyzing three key epiphanies that impacted his life (Denzin, 1989). Lastly, this paper discusses the significance of Juan’s autobiography towards the study of