It seems like anyone can get a reduced sentence for good behaviour, even Pablo Escobar’s notorious hitman, Jhon Jairo Velázquez Vásquez AKA Popeye.

Popeye was Escobar’s assassin that dealt with all the dirty work of the Medellin Cartel and has claimed to have killed over 300 people and has been involved in 3,000 other murders.

Some 200 police officers and five vehicles accompanied Velázquez as he was taken from the Combita high security prison in Boyaca to the capital, Bogota, where he walked free after serving 22 years behind bars.

Popeye’s release is highly controversial given that he had only served three-quarters of his full 30-year sentence for his part in the 1989 murder of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán. Critics have also argued that an additional sentence handed down in 2008 meant he should not yet go free.

What also helped Velázquez’s cause was that he testified against former Justice Minister Alberto Santofimio, a rival in the 1990 vote, who was convicted of ordering Galan’s killing.

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