Colombian president President Juan Manuel Santos has recently asked Madrid to take down a billboard that features Netflix original series "Narcos."
President Santos asked the Spanish city to remove the big billboard about drug lord Pablo Escobar, saying that they are suffering for what he has done to the country.
Santos said in an interview that while he thinks "Narcos" is a good show, they, as Colombians "lived through the Pablo Escobar tragedy and suffer from the memories" from what he had done. "Pablo Escobar was a murderer who doesn't deserve to be praised as a hero under any circumstance," he added.
Captioned "Oh, blanca navidad,"--which translates to "Oh, white Christmas," the billboard with a simple image of actor Wagner Moura, obviously alluded to the drug lord's cocaine business.
Santos is in Spain after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a peace deal with rebels that ended decades of conflict. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the billboard advertisement was hung on December 2, the 23rd death anniversary of Escobar.
According to reports, Colombia Foreign Minister Angela Holguin has asked the both Netflix and the city hall to take down the poster, but this was not accepted--a spokeswoman for the city hall said that there were no plans to remove the billboard because it doesn't break any terms on advertising. Netflix has not yet commented on the issue.
"The efforts that Colombia made to turn the page on the Medellin cartel, on drugs, is something that we are over now, and the vision that the world has of Colombia now is different, but preconceived notions persist, and if we add this type of advertising, then great damage is done to our country," said Holguin.
"Narcos" has been renewed for a third season, but the exact release date has not yet been revealed. It is expected to return on Fall 2017.
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