It's important to learn from the past and people's experiences, not only from my father's [Pablo Escobar] as a drug dealer, but from others that have ended just the way he did.

I did not begin to talk about peace when my father died nor did I begin to criticize him at that point - I did this when I had him in front of me, I was one of his harshest criticizers and I never applauded his violence.

No one prepares you at 7 years of age to have your father tell you he is a criminal - you are still a kid and you are thinking about playing and having fun, things that have little to do with reality. This forces you to grow and mature before due time.

What I criticize is the message that the United States is sending to the youth of the world - to those of us who invite people to leave the ways of violence and the drug trade, we are not given a visa but those that sell drugs and weapons, yes.

I think one has to be aware that a change needs to be made to improve one's life and then there will always be alternatives and choices that can lead you away from a life of violence.

My sister, my mother and I are great friends. We have always valued our immediate family immensely, something we learned from my father.

In a way, my father [Pablo Escobar] reached a certain degree of sincerity that I became to know and I would even say appreciate because I would have rather had my father treat me like this rather than as an idiot that would never have any idea about what was happening around us.