If you’re an avid Narcos fan like us, then you were just as excited when Narcos season 3 was released last week. And, if you binge watch like we do, then you’ve probably finished the entire season already! Either way, if you’ve watched the first episode, there’s one thing we know for sure—Claudio Salazar’s death is probably still haunting you. What did Carlos Camacho from Narcos do to deserve such a gruesome end? Take a look at Claudio Salazar’s wiki to find out!
Claudio Salazar’s age is unknown, though we suspect he’s in his mid-thirties to forties since he’s married and has a son. He’s a member of the North Valley Cartel, and we find out pretty early in episode one that he has some beef with the Cali Cartel’s head of distribution and security, Pacho Herrera. The cartel CEO, Gilberto Rodriguez plans to bring the all his allies and associates together to make an announcement. Spoiler—it’s that he’s made a deal with the government to hand over all their labs in six months in exchange for minimal jail sentences and the ability to keep their fortune. Unsurprisingly, not many of his associates are happy to hear about the deal he’s made on their behalf. Before Gilberto gets to announce it to his partners, viewers see Salazar express his worry about seeing Pacho at the soiree. Pacho also brings up in a meeting with Gilberto and other Cali bosses that he has a personal history with Salazar, and that he’d like to take care of business. However, Gilberto had planned for it to be a civil, celebratory night for all, so he refused to have Pacho commit murder—that night, at least.
When Salazar arrives at the party, Miguel, Gilberto’s brother takes notice of Claudio Salazar’s wife, Maria. It’s clear he has eyes for her, but there’s nothing he can do—especially since her husband forces her to leave the party early. The Cali Cartel spent one billion dollars per year in bribes alone, which meant they had eyes and ears everywhere. Gilberto figured that not all of his associates would be happy about their deal, so he collected some insight on his partners in the days after his party. When he, Miguel, Pacho, and the other Cali bosses listened into what Salazr had to say, Gilberto concluded he wasn’t a threat and that he should be left alone. However, Miguel, still upset Maria was forced to leave early, recommended that he should still be nipped in the bud. Harbouring his personal vendetta, Pacho volunteers to get the job done.
That night, Pacho finds Claudio at a local bar, buys him a bottle, and proceeds to have an intimate dance/make-out session with his lover, seemingly flaunting his homosexuality in front of a clearly uncomfortable Claudio. Afterwards, he calmly approaches him and smashes the bottle over Claudio’s head. Next, viewers see Claudio’s limbs tied to different motorcycles, who all proceed to accelerate in different directions—and you know the rest. What did Claudio Salazar do to get on Pacho’s bad side, and deserve such a horrifying death? Audiences hadn’t seen Claudio in previous seasons, and the answer doesn’t get released until later in the season.
A few episodes later, Pacho is seen speaking to Amado Carillo. While starting the cartel, one associate called him a “fa***t” and tried convincing kingpins Gilberto and Miguel that it wasn’t a good idea to bring him on board—obviously, they did the exact opposite and made him a partner. The associate he told Carillo about was Salazar, and he’d held a grudge against him for his homophobic remarks ever since, making sure to flaunt his sexuality whenever he got the chance.
While we don’t support hate speech, being quartered is a pretty heavy price to pay. In any case, Salazar’s horrifying death was definitely executed in true Narcos style, and that’s what we’re here for. If you haven’t caught up yet, the entire third season of Narcos is available for streaming on Netflix.
