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In Colombia, Scientology’s ‘Casa Hubbard’ has a pretty interesting neighbor

 
Regular correspondent Jeffrey Augustine has a rather startling discovery to share with us…

It’s December 2, 1993, and in Colombia’s city of Medellin, in the Los Olivos residential district, the world’s wealthiest and most violent drug dealer is hiding out in a nondescript two-story home. The man is the notorious Pablo Escobar, whose cocaine cartel has brutally murdered countless people. Even the United States is not safe. Miami has been gripped in a wave of violence and killings ordered by Escobar.

Escobar is talking to his son on the phone. A Colombian military intelligence operative intercepts the call and relays information to other members of the Search Bloc, a special unit of the National Police. Led by Colonel Hugo Martínez, the Search Bloc team moves in and stealthily approaches the building containing Escobar, located at Carrera 79B #45D-94. Alerted to their presence, Escobar says goodbye to his son.

Álvaro de Jesús Agudelo, a/k/a “El Limón,” is Escobar’s only bodyguard this day. Escobar and El Limón open fire on the police as they make their way upstairs. The two men then jump out of a second story window onto the roof of the smaller home next to their hideout. As they do so, another group of Search Bloc members make their way onto the neighboring rooftops.

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[The Final Moments: Heavily armed Search Bloc members close in on Escobar and El Limón]

Escobar and his bodyguard never make it off the red tile rooftop of the house onto which they had jumped. El Limón is shot and killed almost immediately. The force of the gunfire propels his body off the rooftop of the house and onto the ground.

Escobar is trapped on the rooftop as he fires at the Search Bloc in a desperate attempt to escape. Two bullets rip through Escobar’s leg and torso. The fatal shot tears through Escobar’s right ear and kills him instantly. Escobar collapses on the tile roof. Colonel Martínez shouts into his radio, “Viva Colombia! We have just killed Pablo Escobar!”

Since that shootout, debates have raged over whether Escobar was actually killed by the police or ended his own life. He had reportedly told his family that if he were ever cornered, he would put a bullet into his ear, which was the location of the fatal shot. But either way, the location of that scene has become a local landmark, and you can find numerous websites and videos that provide a guide to finding the two-story hideout.

In one particular video of the location, the camera operator shows that the old hideout has gained a third story, but it’s clearly still recognizable as the house were Escobar had been hiding out…

 

 
And when he zooms out a little, his eye is drawn to a curious looking volcano next door…

 

 
As he then quickly pans past that next door storefront, we can see that it bears the name “Casa Hubbard”….

 

 
A check of Scientology’s website confirms that the Scientology Mission in Medellin is, in fact, located right next door to the Pablo Escobar death house:

 

 
Scientology’s choice of location for a mission is, in our view, a perfect metaphor: Scientology is a transnational criminal syndicate run by a crime boss with an army of enforcers and paid thugs.

 
— Jeffrey Augustine

 
Thank you for that sobering connection, Jeffrey. And looking at the most recent Google streetview of the location, taken in July 2017, you can see on the left the low rooftop where Escobar came to rest, in the middle the two-story-turned-three-story hideout (now a “Spanish School”), and on the right the building no longer has its Casa Hubbard signage. As so many other Scientology missions around the world, this one appears to exist only in a church website directory.

 

 
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Scientology disconnection, a reminder

Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,178 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 1,781 days
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 324 days.
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Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,387 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,161 days.
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Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,281 days.
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Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,515 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 2,775 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 1,815 days.
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Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,053 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,142 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,282 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,602 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,577 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 933 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,235 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,341 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 1,744 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,616 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,198 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,703 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 1,947 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,056 days.

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3D-UnbreakablePosted by Tony Ortega on July 17, 2018 at 07:00

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Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

 

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