The word sicario was first used in Colombia in the 1980s, but was taken up in countries such as Mexico and Honduras as the cartels carved out new smuggling routes amid the war on drugs. Narco terms also spread through soap operas and songs from both Mexico and Colombia. With the release of the movie Sicario in American theaters, the word is finally working its way into English.
The Colombian traffickers formed the first sicario squads to protect the billions of dollars they made trafficking cocaine to the United States amid the 1980s boom. They took the name from the Latin sicarri – which described Zealots in Judea who assassinated Romans with daggers.
While the word “sicario” is relatively new to the English language, the new generation of cartel hit men had a massive impact on the drug business and murder rate in Colombia and Mexico. Sicarios were a new kind of assassin, raised from the slums of Medellin by Pablo Escobar and his associates in the 1970s. They were recruited as teenagers and trained to be ruthless. They raised drug murders to a whole new level of violence. Soon, the practice was copied by other cartels in South and Central America.
Image shows Colombian narco
