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Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria is born
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Richard Nixon establishes the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
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Colombian police seize 600 kilograms of cocaine — the largest seizure to date — from a small plane. Drug traffickers respond with a vendetta, killing 40 people in one weekend in what's known as the "Medellin Massacre." The event signals the new power of Colombia's cocaine industry, headquartered in Medellin.
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The Medellin cartel rises to power. The alliance includes the Ochoa family, Pablo Escobar, Carolos Lehder and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.
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Building up a Robin Hood-esque image with the poor of Colombia, he is elected to the Colombian National Congress. He will later be ran out of office after officials accuse him for being a drug trafficker.
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Nancy Reagan launches her "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign
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Escobar's assassin kills Minster of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, one of the men who drove Escobar out of Congress years earlier.
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Colombia extradites drug traffickers to the United States for the first time. U.S. officials discover that the Medellin cartel has a "hit list" that includes embassy members, their families, U.S. businessmen and journalists.
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Financed by Pablo Escobar to destroy evidence that could get him extradited to the US, armed Guerrillas storm Colombia's Palace of Justice, killing over 100.
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Colombia annuls extradition treaty with the United States
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Pablo Escobar is featured in Forbes Magazine as one of the world's richest people.
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Colombian Presidential Candidate Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento was shot and killed, he was an opponent of the drug cartels and supporter of Colombian-US extradition policies
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Avianca Flight 203 exploded due to a bomb onboard, killing 110 people, Escobar was suspected culprit.
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Escobar was shot on the roof of his Colombian home, surrounded by the military.
