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Q. How much money did your bank launder?
; A. It's been eight or 10 years since the bank was closed. I haven't got a good enough memory to recall the amount.
Q. You mentioned your well-known differences with Pablo Escobar. Tell us about them.
A. ((Laughs.)) Yes, it is true that I have differences with Mr. Escobar. All this started when Mr. Escobar called me and asked me to help him commit violent acts to get the Colombian government to abrogate the 1979 ((extradition)) treaty ((with the U.S.)). Mr. Escobar thinks that one must take justice into one's own hands. I don't agree. He thinks that a criminal can win a war against the state. I think that is absurd. The crimes he has committed in Colombia on the pretext of narco trafficking have been very grave mistakes.
Q. Why is Escobar at war with you, if you're just a law-abiding businessman with no interest in cocaine?
A. Because Mr. Escobar thinks that whoever is not with him is against him.
Q. Why did he think you would be interested in his plan to kidnap people?
A. I have no idea. I only know he was wrong.
Q. Can you walk freely in the streets of Cali?
A. No, I can't. First, because ((the Colombian secret police known as)) DAS, the army and the police have a warrant to arrest me, and I'm sure they'd comply with it the moment they saw me; and second, because if I get caught by the authorities, I'm afraid that Mr. Pablo Escobar would have me killed.
Q. Not much is known about your origins.
A. I was born between the towns of Mariquita and Honda Tolima. My father was a painter and a draftsman, and my mother was a housewife. We were three brothers and three sisters. When I was 15, I started working as a clerk in a drugstore in Cali. By the time I was 20, I was the manager, and at 25, 10 years after entering the business, I quit in order to start my own drugstore.
Q. And what about your own children?
A. I've got seven children. Six of them are professionals, and one is still a student. They all got their degrees at U.S. or European universities; most are now working in our businesses. Two of them are industrial engineers; another engineer has a degree from the university in Tulsa; ((one is)) a public accountant; and finally, there's one who's studying systems engineering. Then I've got a daughter with an M.B.A. and another one who's also a systems engineer.
Q. How do they like having their father routinely referred to as a drug lord?
A. It bothers them, but they've been brave.
Q. Some sources say you were part of a gang of young kidnappers.
A. This is not logical. I was chairman of the board of directors of a bank in Colombia and president of the board of directors of a bank in Panama. I also had the concession for Chrysler Motors for Colombia. In fact, I got that concession thanks to my dealings with Mr. ((Lee)) Iacocca. ((Chuckles.)) Maybe people confused coca with my dealings with Iacocca.
I was the founder and president of the Grupo Radial Colombiano, which ran more than 30 radio stations around the country. Can you explain to me how I could get official blessings for these businesses if I had a criminal past?