Pablo Escobar´s top hitman dies of cancer in Colombia

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia, (AA) - A former hitman for Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, died Thursday of stomach cancer, Colombia's prison institute confirmed.

“The Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) reports that Jhon Jairo Velasquez ‘Popeye’, died early this morning at the National Cancer Institute. The prisoner had been hospitalized since December 31, 2019, and suffered from stomach cancer,” it said.

The former chief hitman of the Medellin drug cartel spent 23 years in prison after being captured in 1991.

He was convicted of killing more than 300 people and helping murder at least 3,000 more. He confessed to having coordinated 200 car bombings in Colombia's main cities, dozens of kidnappings and bombing a commercial plane that killed 107 people.

He was also convicted of participating in the assassination of former presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan.

“Aka Popeye confessed to handing over the gun to the hitman who murdered my father. I forgave him. I will not rejoice in the death of a human being. I hope that in facing death he repented of all his crimes,” said Galan’s son, Carlos.

In May 2018, Jairo Velasquez was captured after authorities said he was still committing crimes and was held for more than a year in Valledupar´s maximum-security prison accused of extortion.

He was later formally linked to the 1986 murder of journalist and editor of the El Espectador newspaper, Guillermo Cano.

Jairo Velasquez was transferred Dec. 23 from Valledupar to Bogota for health reasons and in January, the El Tiempo newspaper revealed he had end-stage cancer and palliative care was being provided.

The 58-year old former sicario, or hitman, was one of the last survivors of the guard that made the Medellin drug cartel one of the most feared criminal organizations in the 1980s and 1990s.