The killing of Connie's cat aroused Murphy's vigilance. After repeated deliberation with Peña, they concluded that Murphy had been targeted by drug lords the moment he entered the country. Murphy wanted to drop the matter, as long as Connie's safety could be guaranteed. But Peña insisted that DEA agents were off-limits—that was the rule. It was a understanding earned long ago through the self-sacrifice of Agent Zych, and they couldn't give the drug traffickers a chance to turn the tables. Even though it was just a cat, it was a DEA cat.
So Peña took Murphy to find Colombian policeman Suárez, bribing him to find out who had bought Murphy's information. The massive wealth had gone to Escobar's head, and he began to want to formally enter the political arena. He asked his lover Valeria to find him Duque, a lawyer from the Liberal Party, promising Duque $300,000 a year to persuade Attorney General Lila to let him run for office. Lila had originally been skeptical about the source of Escobar's wealth, but Duque presented a thick stack of documents proving that Escobar's money was clean, and Lila acquiesced.
With permission, Escobar officially launched his election campaign as the candidate for former Antioquia Congressman Hairo. He stood with the poor and the weak, promising to fight for more rights for them. Coupled with having plenty of manpower and money to fulfill his promises, Escobar's reputation soared and he gained enormous popularity among the people. His wife Tata, heavily pregnant, supported him—and soon noticed his inappropriate interactions with Valeria. Tata begged him not to be dragged down by Valeria, and Escobar comforted his wife with affection.
That night, Tata gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Suárez quickly arrested the two men who had stolen Murphy's information at the airport. After a combination of threats and inducements, the two men confessed that they had sent the information to someone named Veneno (Poison). Despite Murphy's objections, Connie insisted on volunteering at the church, unaware that the church's priest was actually a communist.
Learning that Veneno would be traveling to the National University of Colombia (La Universidad Nacional de Colombia), Peña persuaded the U.S. ambassador to bribe Colonel Carrillo to set up a checkpoint on his route. Unexpectedly, after learning of this, Suárez immediately sold the information to Escobar, who promptly called Veneno back. The arrest operation ultimately failed, but it sent a clear message to the drug lords about the DEA's stance on the matter.
Colombia's major drug lords were divided in their opinions on Escobar's candidacy. Gustavo withdrew from managing the laboratories as promised, and everyone saw this as Escobar's hasty attempt to whitewash himself. The drug lords unanimously agreed to publicly support Escobar's campaign, while Gacha and the Ochoa brothers adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Escobar claimed that he was running for office because he truly wanted to speak for the poor, and only Red believed him. As the campaign drew to a close, Hairo announced that he would be retiring due to health and family reasons, passing the Liberal Party baton to Escobar. At this point, Escobar had one foot firmly in the door of Congress.
Peña and Murphy told the ambassador that Escobar was a major drug lord, and the ambassador ordered them to find someone to testify against him. The two went to Suárez again, who told them that Escobar had once been imprisoned for drug trafficking and gave them the contact information of the person in charge of the files. But once again, Suárez turned around and sold the information to Escobar. For a time, the war between the DEA and the major drug lords intensified. Peña and Murphy finally realized they couldn't rely on Suárez, so they rushed to find the photographer who had taken the photos back then and obtained the negatives. The ambassador took the negatives to Attorney General Lila, hoping he would come forward to testify against Escobar.
On the day Escobar stepped into Congress for the first time, Lila publicly displayed the photos of his arrest and imprisonment, openly demanding that he resign from Congress. Escobar's presidential dream was shattered, but he did not collapse. Instead, he launched a campaign of revenge and counterattack against Lila, having him killed on his way to take up his post as Colombian ambassador to the Czech Republic. At the same time, he held a press conference, claiming he had been framed for speaking up for the poor and the weak.