Son of drugs baron Pablo Escobar criticises Netflix's Narcos for glorifying father's life

The son of notorious Colombian drugs baron Pablo Escobar has criticised dramatisations such as popular Netflix series Narcos for glorifying his father's life.

"I am not against telling stories, but I am against glorifying criminals and showing drug trafficking as glamorous. This confuses youths," Sebastian Marroquin, who changed his name from Juan Pablo Escobar after his father's death, told the Spanish newspaper El Periodico.

"I receive tonnes of messages from youths asking for help to be like my dad. They want to be that criminal, they send me photos dressed up like him, with his moustache, his hairstyle," Marroquin added.

"Series about narcos have turned my father into a hero and given young people the idea that it is cool to be a drug trafficker," he said.

Marroquin last year posted a list of 28 alleged inaccuracies in Narcos on his Facebook page, and called the show "insulting."

An estimated 3.2 million people watched the Emmy-nominated first series of the show worldwide. Its creators say that while the show is based on Escobar's story, some episodes have been fictionalised for dramatic effect.

Narcos showrunners have hinted that the drug cartel series could see the light of a third season. Wagner Moura, who plays Escobar, confirmed that he will be leaving the show after season 2, but the creators assured fans that the show will go on.

Pablo Escobar is widely regarded as one of the most notorious and wealthy drug lords of all time. At the height of his power, Escobar was said to be the seventh richest man in the world and responsible for as much as 80% of the cocaine imported to the United States during the 1980s.

Marroquin, an architect, has changed his name and denounced his father's legacy. In 2009 he appeared in an Argentinian documentary series in which he apologised to the families of the victims of assassinations ordered by his father.

Escobar's story has also been dramatised on Colombian television.