DEATH, TIME UNABLE TO KILL ESCOBAR'S MYTH

On The 10th Anniversary Of The Death Of Colombia's Most Notorious Drug
Kingpin, Pablo Escobar Is Still Honored For His Good Works

MEDELLIN - Carlos Vanegas tenderly placed yellow and red carnations on
Colombia's most infamous grave and said a silent prayer.

Someone had clearly beaten him to the marble tomb of drug trafficker Pablo
Escobar, already decorated with lilies, five dozen white roses, and origami
swans. Vanegas pointed to the worn muddy path leading up to the grave.

Oh yes, lots of people had visited here before.

''You see those tracks? That's not from rain -- that's from traffic,''
Vanegas said. ``A lot of people loved the patron.''

He gave the tomb a friendly knock and went on his way.

The boss was the 44-year-old Escobar, Colombia's most legendary killer,
terrorist, drug trafficker and philanthropist. Tuesday marked the 10- year
anniversary of the day he died in a hail of police bullets and cheers after
a 16-month hunt to capture public enemy No. 1.

DRAMATIC CHANGES

In the 10 years since Escobar's death, the landscape of Colombian drug
trafficking has changed dramatically. Gone are the flashy dopers whose
astounding wealth commanded power and impunity. Although the United States
estimates some 700 tons of cocaine left this country last year, there is no
longer a single person that controls its production or one cartel that
controls its price.

''Now what you have are smaller organizations,'' former Colombian Police
Director Miguel Gomez said, ``but with better results.''

The anniversary came as the Colombian government negotiates amnesty for the
Medellin blocs of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, vicious
fighters who are largely descendants of the Escobar regime. Hit men wound
up as paramilitary fighters, battling leftist guerrillas.

In the end, part of Escobar's legacy was a life of violence for hundreds of
young men who knew no other way.

Escobar's death did little to stem the flow of white powder here, and even
less to quell the myth of a man who killed with ease and donated with
generosity.

About 100 people attended a Mass at his grave site in Medellin's Montesacro
Gardens on Sunday. And in the Pablo Escobar neighborhood, virtually every
home has a graying framed photo of the man who single- handedly put roofs
over hundreds of families.

In 1984, Escobar paid for a housing project officially named ''The
Neighborhood Without Slums.'' But around here, it's just ''Pablo Escobar.''
None of the current residents actually knew the man they have spent two
decades admiring.

''I'm going to fix my photo up because the cockroaches are nibbling at
it,'' said Maria Alicia Morales, still gleaming with pride over the cement
house Escobar gave her in 1984. ``I lived in a little shack. I feel like
I'm in a palace now. I feel very happy in my home.''

Escobar was a small-town punk who began his criminal career selling stolen
tombstones. He rose to car theft and drug courier, eventually becoming
leader of the world's biggest drug-smuggling ring. In 1982, he was elected
to Congress. In 1984, he was charged with the murder of Colombia's justice
minister and became a fugitive.

''Before the United States requested his extradition, nobody even knew who
he was,'' said Hugo Martinez, the former police colonel who led the
manhunt. ``His mystique came from the publicity by the Americans.''

BODY COUNT

When the United States requested Escobar's capture, he retaliated in full
force, staging a bombing and assassination campaign that killed thousands.
Former Defense Minister Rafael Pardo remembers the five-year body count:
1,500 police officers, 200 judges and judiciary employees, 50 journalists
and four presidential candidates.

In 1991, Escobar negotiated his surrender with then-President Cesar
Gaviria, who offered him immunity from extradition to the United States.

But the prison specially built for Escobar turned out to be more like a
country club, complete with a Jacuzzi, king-size water bed and cellular
phones. He served 13 months and escaped.

Escobar was gunned down by an elite task force that used cellular-phone
signals to track him down.

''We wanted justice, for him to pay for his crime,'' said Martinez, the
elder of a father-and-son police duo credited with finding him.

"He goes down as one of the biggest killers in world history. Among that
circle are people responsible for wars.