History Buffs: Narcos Season One - Part One

Hey guys, one annoying mistake I made was that I said Simon Bolivar was Colombian. He was actually from Venezuela. My bad!

History Buffs is one of the only channels on this platform that sums up the quote, “You don't know how good you have it until it's gone.” Welcome back History Buffs, we missed you and thank you for inspiring me to major in History and making my History channel

As a colombian I would like to say thanks for the respectful tone in the video. Some have taken Narcos as a cue to glorify and admire Escobar cause of his money, his guts and how ludicrous the things he did were. For us, for my parents, there was no glory and no guts. Only death and suffering. Only fear everyday because you didn't know if the car next to you would blow up. We've moved on from these times, we're happy our country is safer, more peaceful. Happier. Now, we continue our stride, trying to remember the victims, not the assassins, and trying not to glorify but rather shed the grim light they deserve. They weren't cool, they weren't heroes, they weren't anything but terrorists. Appreciate to see well produced, respectful content. Keep it up!

I listened to an interview with both agents Steve Murphy and Javier Peña. They said the Narocs series is roughly 50% accurate. The one thing they specifically said was downplayed was the violence. I visited Columbia back in the 80s. I ask one of the locals why the government does not simply mobilize the army and take out the narcos. The Columbian looked at me seriously and said, "The Norcos have a better military than the government". That's when I realized how serious the problem was.

I'm really hoping this means Nick'll consider covering Narcos: Mexico in the future. The Mexican cartel wars are still on-going and brutal as hell.

Though he may be fictional, I appreciate that Cockroach speaks Spanish with the inflections and the slang that someone from Chile uses. It's a nice detail that's appreciated as someone who was born there

I sometimes looked in the comment sections of Narcos clips on YouTube and saw many people supporting and glorifying Escobar's actions. Thank you for this, and showing the courage of those who stood up against that evil man.

I think the reason that the TV show had Medellin running drugs to Miami instead of Los Angeles was because every scene in the show was filmed in Colombia, even scenes that took place in the US or Germany. It was easier to film a Miami setting in Colombia than a Los Angeles setting.

Yeah, I don’t remember those years fondly. As a child I did not fully understand the situation, but I could feel the fear all over, due to bombs, murders, bounties placed on police, military and judges. It also makes me sad that these people are sometimes hailed as heroes, saviors, liberators. So many dead and so many consequences, still felt today.

My dad always complained and said this show was inaccurate. He grew up in Colombia at the time, and both him and my mother have told me stories of the constant bombings that happened. This last bit about Galan and the bombings is really hard to watch. My parents have told me everyone loved him and he was sure to bring Colombia out of the dark times. Thank you for exploring this topic, as a Colombian it means alot.

He was really a monster. My complete condolences and respect to the Columbian people who had to endure this terrible time- I sincerely hope that you and your families are healing and never have to experience such horrors again.

In George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, the Ironborn often ask "did you pay the gold price or iron price?" meaning did you pay for it or did you kill the man and take it from him? Pablo Escobar's offer of "Silver or lead?" sounds like a modern spin on that phrase.

Wagner Moura’s performance as Pablo Escobar was absolutely amazing in season 1 and he arguably carried the show.

Definitely did not expect this to be the next topic! welcome back HB, looking forward to the video

One inaccuracy to note: the Chilean soldiers (2:32 onward) are wearing VSR-93 camouflage which wasn’t developed until the late 80s. I don’t think anybody really cares about camouflage history but it’s an error nonetheless

Interesting perspectives. The interplay between drug trade, criminal cartels, and Cold War politics makes it a perfect storm of horror for Columbia.

As a Colombian who grew in the late 80's and early 90's, this episode of HB and the netflix show really hit hard. Thanks HB🙂

Love the content. One note. According to George Jung, he did not meet Pablo Escobar in 1974. In Blow, the book, he not only discusses this, but also the insanity with smuggling before he got into cocaine.

I've always heard about Pablo Escobar in passing, but I've never heard about his deeds in detail until now. The man was a monster and a nation-less warlord. I'm amazed that he would have had so many followers to carry out his killings for him.

please never stop making videos Nick. You're the reason I keep checking my subscriptions often to see if there are new History buffs videos. Thanks for your contribution mate!