THE GLOBALPOST

Apologizing for a father’s sin

When Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar was gunned down in 1993, his teenaged son Juan Pablo declared: “If it’s true, I’ll kill all the sons of bitches.” But thankfully, the junior Escobar’s life took another route: to Argentina where he worked as an architect and with a new name, Sebastian Marroquin. He has now reappeared as the central character in a documentary about his father’s violent legacy: Pecados de mi Padre, or ‘The Sins of my Father’. In an interview with GlobalPost’s John Otis, Marroquin speaks about his father rather fondly—someone who “instilled many values in me”. When asked if his dad wanted him to take over the Medellin Cartel, Marroquin says he never insisted; instead he said he would back him in whatever he wanted to do. Marroquin also takes a touching stand: “I, Sebastian Marroquin, am taking responsibility for the acts of my father in respect for the victims who suffered from his violence.”

RED PEPPER

The great global land grab

Some two years ago when financial players foresaw the economic crisis, they put their money in the safer commodities market. That led to an artificial food crisis and prices rose dramatically. That’s when rich, “food insecure nations” went looking for land in poorer countries, primarily Africa. That was the beginning of the ‘great global land grab’, says Sue Branford. “There is much to worry us about the new carve-up. Some of the world’s poorest countries are letting go of land that they need to feed their own populations,” the author says. Besides affecting domestic food supplies, Branford says, it could be a time bomb for the world’s ability to cope with climate change.

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