Pablo Escobar’s hit man dies after short battle with cancer

A former hit man for late drug lord Pablo Escobar who confessed to killing hundreds of people during one of Colombia’s most violent periods died Thursday after a short battle with cancer, prison authorities said.

Jhon Jairo Velásquez, kwn by his nickname Popeye, died at National Cancer Institute in Bogota, where he h been hospitalized since late December, according to National Penitentiary and Prison Institute.

Velásquez mitted to carrying out at least 300 murders himself and said he helped coordinate deaths of some 3,000 or individuals deemed a threat to Escobar’s Medellin cartel during 1980s and 90s. He spent 23 years behind bars for plotting murder of an ex-presidential candidate and was released in 2014 on parole.

After being released, he went on to gain toriety as an author and YouTube celebrity who delivered angry diatribes against leftist rebels and corrupt politicians and at one point expressed a desire to run for a seat in senate.

But he didn’t stay out of jail for long.

In 2017, authorities anunced y were seeking his arrest for violating parole after he was caught partying with a major drug trafficker wanted by U.S. He was eventually captured in 2018 on charges of extortion.

Velásquez spoke of murders he committed on Escobar’s behalf in a cold, matter-of-faction fashion, describing in one television interview how he preferred using a revolver and “worked from eyebrows up.”

“Because I’m a professional assassin,” he said.

In a meeting with daughter of Diana Turbay, a Colombian journalist kidnapped by Medellin cartel who died from a gunshot wound after a botched rescue attempt, Velásquez said he took responsibility for crime.

“I want to ask you for forgiveness,” he said.

He mitted to participating in some of Colombia’s most torious crimes, including assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, who was poised to win presidency when he was shot to death in 1989 after speaking out against powerful drug cartels, and 1989 bombing of an Avianca flight that left 107 de.

Escobar died during a firefight with security forces in Medellin in 1993.

Even while asking for forgiveness, Velásquez continued to express miration for his former boss, describing him once as “a good friend and a good enemy.”

“If Pablo Escobar were to be reborn, I’d go with him without thinking,” he told El Tiempo newspaper in 2013.