The day Pablo Escobar was killed – level 3

02-12-1993

Pablo Escobar was born in Colombia. His criminal career started early when he was just a teenager. He was stealing cars, selling illegal cigarettes, and fake lottery tickets. Later, Escobar began to organize kidnappings of local politicians and their families. Finally, he entered the illegal drug trade.

At first, he and his brother were smuggling cocaine to the USA. The demand was huge, and Escobar’s business grew fast. After some time, Escobar had his own planes, helicopters, and even two small submarines, all smuggling cocaine to the USA. When Escobar was at his peak, his cartel made 70 million US dollars a day.

For his operations to run, Escobar bought many policemen, judges, and politicians. Those who tried to oppose him were simply killed. Escobar’s power was great and growing.

However, part of the Colombian government and police were also trying to take Escobar down. They even offered people money for information about his location. Escobar was on the run – he had to hide and change his locations. Using the telephone was his fatal mistake. On December 2, 1993, the police found out his location and killed him in a shootout. He was 44 years old. “The King of Cocaine” and his cartel died on that day.

Difficult words: smuggler (a person who smuggles – sells illegal things or moves them from one country to another), buy (to give people money to do what you want), take down (to end, to shoot), shootout (a battle when people shoot guns).

What was the key factor that ultimately led to Pablo Escobar's downfall and eventual death?

LEARN 3000 WORDS with DAYS IN LEVELS

Days in Levels is designed to teach you 3000 words in English. Please follow the instructions
below.

How to improve your English with Days in Levels: 

Test

  1. Do the test at Test Languages.
  2. Go to your level. Go to Level 1 if you know 1-1000 words. Go to Level 2 if you know 1000-2000 words. Go to Level 3 if you know 2000-3000 words.

Reading

  1. Read two new articles article at Days in Levels every day.
  2. Read one previous article too and check if you remember all new words.

Listening

  1. Listen to the new article and read the text at the same time.
  2. Listen to the new article without reading the text.

Writing

  1. Answer the question under the new article and write your answer in the comments.

Speaking

  1. Choose one person from the Skype section.
  2. Talk with this person. You can answer questions from Speak in Levels.