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The eight-storey Monaco building, the luxury fort of former drug baron Pablo Escobar in Medellin, Colombia, was destroyed on Friday with explosives. It will give way to a park dedicated to the victims of narco-terrorism. Relive this event in photos.
The Monaco building of Pablo Escobar, located in the posh district of Poblado, Medellin, Thursday, February 21, 2019, watch the demolition.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIPablo Escobar lived for two years in this residence which also served as headquarters for his narcotrafic operations between 1986 and 1988.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIOn the eve of the explosion, a security cordon was installed around the building while locals, tourists and journalists, came to take the last pictures.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIColombians came in large numbers to witness the demolition. A view from the street was open to the public. And 1,500 people in the 100-meter security perimeter around the Monaco building have been evacuated.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIColombian President Ivan Duque made the trip to launch the symbolic day alongside the Medellin mayor, Federico Gutierrez, Friday, February 22, 2019, in Medellin, from the Club Campestre opposite the site of the demolition.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIDozens of journalists, who had taken up residence on the roofs of several buildings around the Monaco building. On the Turkeza tower, some waited five hours.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIAround noon, Colombian time, the ultimate alarm launched the demolition of the Monaco building, Friday, February 22, 2019.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIThe building collapsed in three seconds.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIA thick smoke invaded the neighborhood for 5 minutes after the explosion.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFIThe firefighters sprayed the rubble to disperse the dust and prevent the start of a fire, minutes after the building collapsed.
© Najet Benrabaa / RFI
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