Pablo Escobar (born December 1, 1949, Rionegro, Colombia—died December 2, 1993, Medellín. Colombia) was a Colombian drug lord who rose to infamy as the leader of the Medellín cartel, overseeing a period marked by extreme violence, corruption, and wealth. Escobar was arguably the world’s most powerful drug trafficker in the 1980s and early ’90s.