Former referee says how ‘Popeye’ threatened him to help Nacional



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Carlos Espósito, Argentine judge who directed the semifinal between Atlético Nacional and Danubio for Copa Libertadores on May 17, 1989, he recounted how Pablo Escobar’s thugs threatened him.

Although the subject is an open secret, There is no certainty that the Medellín Cartel bought that continental cup for the Paisa team.

However, the former Argentine referee assured the ‘Buen Momento’ program on ‘Radio La Red’ that it was the same ‘Popeye’, Pablo Escobar’s hit man, who offered him a large sum of money at that time.

“Four entered, one with a machine gun and behind them entered the famous ‘Popeye’, well dressed, in a suit and tie. He was carrying a suitcase and he said there are $ 250,000 here, it’s yours, take it away.

Before the offer of John Jairo Velásquez, alias ‘Popeye’, the ex-referee affirms that he refused, stating that they were in Medellín “to work properly”.

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In the middle of his story, Espósito says that he looked at Pablo Escobar’s hitman, when he suddenly closed the briefcase and said the following to them:

“Your life here is worth nothing and in Buenos Aires it can cost us $ 1,000 each.”

According to the Argentine, he never accepted the money and admits that the same offer was made several times.

In addition, he says that after that scare he did not know where to start, so he proposed to his colleagues to sleep at the airport.

Sports journalist Juan Pablo Varsky shared the story of Carlos Esposito, 31 years after that match that Atlético Nacional won with a score of 6-0.

Although it is only a referee’s version, no one can argue that at the end of the 80s the country was going through one of its darkest times.

It was in those years that painful episodes occurred such as the assassination of Carlos Galán, the bombing of the newspaper El Espectador or the attack on an Avianca plane.

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