Speaker 1: Well, in the honor of the World Cup that's starting
in a couple of days, we decided to have an
interesting podcast episode on the two Escabars, cocaine cartels, and
the secret war behind Columbia's World Cup dream. So we'll
look at how cartels and soccer teams have a relationship
in a weird way. Mediane, Columbia, July second, nineteen ninety four.
Just after three am, a black suv pulls into a
parking lot outside of a nightclub inside the city. The
cocaine wars have technically slowed, but nobody truly believes the
violence is over. Not really, not in Mediine, not in
the city built by Pablo Escobar. A young man steps outside.
Twenty seven years old professional athlete, national icon Andre Escobar,
the captain of Colombia's national soccer team, a defender known
for discipline, composure, and humility, nicknamed the Gentleman. Ten days earlier,
he had made one mistake during the World Cup, one
accidental touch of a soccer ball, one own goal against
the United States. Now witnesses begin hearing shouting in the
parking lot, arguments, insults, even gunfire, and, according to witnesses,
after every shot the killer shouted one word goal. But
this story is not really about soccer. It's about covert power.
That's right, something in the world of espionage, narco influence operations,
financial laundering, psychological terror, political corruption, and the invisible systems
operating underneath public entertainment. Because of Columbia during the Lake
Cold War era, soccer clubs were not just sports organizations.
They were fronts, influence networks, community control mechanism, and sometimes
they were part of something much larger than the game itself.
This is the two escobars. You have to understand Colombia
in the nineteen eighties and early nineties. Who appreciate what
we're going to talk about. Columbia was simultaneously experiencing two
different entire realities. One was ordinary life, families, restaurants, children
playing soccer in the streets, music echoing through Midian neighborhoods.
But I didn't eat that surface. The country was engaged
in a low grade internal war. Car bombings, assassinations, kidnappings,
political executions. Hip Men riding motorcycles through crowded intersections and
operating inside that chaos was one of the most sophisticated
criminal enterprises in modern history. The Median cartel led by
Pablo Escobar. Pablo Escobar did not simply run a drug business,
and this is where it gets interesting for my espionage
and client audience. He operated an alternative state. He had
intelligence networks, counter surveillance teams, briberry systems, political penetration, financial
laundering structures, communication chains, and enforcement arms capable of targeted killings.
In many ways, cartel structures began resembling covert paramilitary organizations
more than traditional criminal gangs, and just like intelligence agencies,
they understood perception management. They understood symbolism influence, which brings
us to soccer. Soccer was a covert influence operation. To outsiders,
soccer was entertainment, but to cartel leaders, soccer was strategic infrastructure.
Owning or financing clubs provided several advantages simultaneously. First, money laundering,
large cash flows, transfer fees, ticket revenue, corporate sponsorships, perfect
environment for obscuring illssed funds. Another factor was social legitimacy
soft power. When cartel figures funded local teams, built stadiums,
or help communities, they cultivated something intelligence professionals would recognize immediately,
again soft power. Pabul Escobar understood this brilliantly. He didn't
just want to fear, he wanted emotional loyalty, and that
distinction matters. Fear controls behavior temporarily, but identity based loyalty
creates durable influence. And soccer was emotionally sacred in Columbia,
which meant controlling soccer meant controlling public emotion. Some cartel
figures hosted private games with professional players, others financially supported
clubs behind the scenes. Some athletes socialized with narco elites
because in certain cities, avoiding them was nearly impossible. Now
this is where the espionage angle becomes fascinating, because organized
crime groups often behave like intelligence services. In one crucial way,
they blurw legitimate and illegitimate systems, businesses, politicians, celebrities, police,
sports figures. The line becomes intentionally unclear, and that ambiguity
creates protection. If anyone is somewhat connected, nobody fully knows
who belongs to whom, And that's exactly the kind of
environment Columbia became. And then there was the other Escabar
Andrea Escabar. If Poplo represented intimidation, Andrea represented restraint, Teammates
described him as thoughtful, disciplined, emotionally controlled professional. He wasn't
the loudest player. He wasn't the celebrity archetype. He was
dependable and intelligence terminology. He was low drama and highly stable,
a type of individual. Organizations trust, under pressure, and psychologically
that matter because Colombia desperately needed symbolic figures who represented normalcy.
The nation was psychologically exhausted. Years of cartel warfare have
produced what trauma researchers call chronic threat conditioning. When populations
live around persistent violence, hypervigilance becomes normalized. People adapt to
in stability. Bombings stopped feeling shocking, and armed guards stopped
feeling unusual, and corruption stops feeling extraordinary. This is called
normalization of deviants, and once society is normalized as function,
they have normal begins feeling routine. That's where Colombia was
psychologically entering the nineteen ninety four World Cup. September fifth
of nineteen ninety three, Buenos Aires, Columbia versus Argentina, one
of the most hostile sockwore environments on Earth, and Colombia
does the unthinkable. They beat Argentina and beat them badly,
five to zero. Now For intelligence analyst, moments like this
are fascinating because national victories can radically alter collective identity narratives.
Before that game, Columbia was globally associated with cocaine violence.
Now something changed psychologically. Suddenly Columbia wasn't merely feared but admired,
and admiration is intoxicating for wounded societies. The team became
a national emotional anchor, but emotionally fused national identities are dangerous.
Once public identity becomes attached to symbolic performance, failure stops
feeling like disappointment, Failure starts feeling like existential, and this
is where pressure becomes psychologically catastrophic. Athletes stopped playing fluidly.
They begin over monitoring performance, and sports psychologists solving called
choking under pressure. But there was another layer underneath the surface. Money,
huge amounts of money, illegal gambling, cartel linked betting, underground
financial interests. When nations emotionally obsess over outcomes and criminal
networks financially depend on outcomes, store sports stop being sports.
By the time Columbia arrived in the US with the
nineteen ninety four World Cup, they were carrying the emotional
burden of an entire nation and possibly something else. Fear
reports circulated about gambling losses and threats warning some cartel
connected individuals. Whether every rumor was true almost becomes irrelevant
because perceived threat effects performance nearly as strong as an
actual threat, and that's critical. Human cognition changes under fear exposure,
Attention narrows, reaction time alters, working memory declines. Now, I
imagine competing in front of the world while believing violent
consequences might follow. That is not normal athletic pressure. That
resembles psychological corercion environments and intelligence professionals know something more
about course of systems. You often do not need explicit threats.
You only need cultural memory. And people have already seen bombings, assassinations,
public executions, and fear already lives inside the nervous system.
No direct orders necessary. The environment itself communicates a threat.
Now we look at June twenty second in nineteen ninety four,
Columbia versus the US it must win game. Thirty fourth minute,
an American cross enters the penalty area, Andrea Escobar slides defensively.
The ball deflects off his leg into the net own goal.
In sports terms, it was accidental, it became catastrophic symbolism
because the nation had fused its hopes onto this team.
And Andrea's suddenly became the visible face of failure. And
this is where media psychology matters. Humans simplify complexity through scapegoating.
Complex systems failed for many reasons, but emotionally, populations seek
single targets, one player, one politician, one executive. Scapegoating reduces uncertainty,
It creates the illusion of control. When Andrea Oscar Bar
became the symbolic container for Columbia's frustration, but again, this
was a merely sports rage. This was occurring inside of
society already conditioned by violence, and that changes everything. After
Columbia's elimination, Andrea's returned home to Median friends reportedly warned
him to stay away for a while, lay Low leave,
actually leave the country, but Andrea believed things would calm down.
Humans routinely underestimate personal risk, especially in familiar environ environments.
Then came the nightclub, the parking lot confrontation, the argument,
the gunfire, six shots a nation froze. International media immediately
framed the murders of soccer killing. Behavioral analysis perspective, the
murder is likely the convergence of multiple overlapping systems, alcohol, masculinity, culture,
honor based aggression, status umiliation, group escalation. Violence rarely emerges
from one variable, emerges from multiple factors. In Colombia's ecosystem
have become psychologically saturated with aggression. One of the most
haunting aspects of the story is how the two Escobar
symbolized competing versions of Columbia itself. Pablo Escobar built influencer
fear Andrea inspire respective character one weaponized intimidation, the other
representative professionalism. In many ways, their stories expose a hidden
truth about power systems. Criminal empires are not merely controlled territory.
They attempt to control identity, culture, emotion, narratives, symbols. That
is why cartels invested in soccer. That is why authoritarian
systems invest in entertainment. That is why intelligence services historically
infiltrate unions, universities, media and sports organizations. Because whoever shapes
identity ultimately shapes behavior. And in Colombia in the nineteen
nineties was fighting on an invisible war. What kind of
nation it would become? The real lesson of the two
Escobars is not the soccer is dangerous. It's that systems matter.
Environments matter. When violence becomes normalized long enough, people psychologically
adapt to it. When criminal organizations become intertwined with daily life,
societies stopped recognizing infiltration. The most important takeaway of all
is the most effective criminal systems are not the ones
hiding outside society. They are the ones that successfully embed
themselves in side society itself. And once that happens, even
a soccer field can become part of the battlefield.