The narrator comes from a lower-middle-class family. His father is a hardworking but unsuccessful businessman; his mother is a devout Catholic. The family struggles financially, and the narrator witnesses his parents’ frustration trying to make ends meet legally.
Compare Chapter 1 of El Cartel de los Sapos with the opening of La Parábola de Pablo (Escobar’s biography) to see the stylistic difference between the Medellín and Cali narrative traditions. el cartel delos sapos origen capitulo 1