Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Arturo Wallace in Bogota says opinion in Colombia is divided over the prisoner's early release 
 
 One of Colombia's most notorious hired killers has been released from prison after serving 22 years of a 30-year sentence. 
 
 Jhon Jairo Velasquez, nicknamed Popeye, was the top hit man of late Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar. 
 
 He confessed to killing 300 people and also claimed a hand in up to 3,000 killings in the 1980s and 1990s. 
 
 But he also gave evidence against an ex-justice minister convicted of ordering the killing of a rival. 
 
 Velasquez, 52, walked free from the Combita high-security prison on Tuesday to start a probation period of four years. 
 
 He left under heavy police escort, a sign of the risks he believes he will face outside jail. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption There was heavy security at the entrance to Combita prison when Velasquez was released 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Jhon Jairo Velasquez was Pablo Escobar's most notorious hit man 
 
 The BBC's Arturo Wallace in Bogota says Colombia is divided over his early release. 
 
 Several victims insist he still hasn't paid for all his crimes, while others say that after two decades in jail it is time to give him a second chance, our correspondent says. 
 
 Velasquez was convicted for his part in the murder of presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galan in 1989. 
 
 But he later turned state's witness against former Justice Minister Alberto Santofimio, a rival candidate in the 1990 presidential election, who was convicted of ordering Mr Galan's killing. 
 
 Mr Galan had taken a hard line against powerful drug cartels and was favourite to win the election, but he was was shot dead in a town outside Bogota as he prepared to give a speech. 
 
 Santofimio, now serving a 24-year sentence, was a close associate of Escobar - the founder of the Medellin cartel which was engaged in a war against the Colombian state. ||||| BOGOTA One of Colombia's most feared drug cartel assassins walked free on Tuesday after serving 22 years in jail for scores of murders ordered by notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar during the cocaine trafficking heyday of the 1980s, police said. 
 
 Jhon Jairo Velasquez, known by his alias 'Popeye', was released early from the high security Combita prison in central Boyaca after completing about three fifths of his sentence and receiving a reduction for studying and good behavior. He left the prison heavily guarded by state-provided protection. 
 
 Velasquez, 52, was Escobar's chief hit man during the bloodiest days of the infamous Medellin Cartel, which shipped billions of dollars of cocaine to the United States and Europe. 
 
 The prolific assassin, who has admitted to killing hundreds of Escobar's enemies, was on the frontlines of grisly gangland battles for territory and trafficking routes. He was indirectly behind thousands of deaths by killers on Escobar's payroll. 
 
 One of Escobar's inner circle, Velasquez was allegedly involved in some of the most famous cartel-related crimes - including the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan and the bombing of an Avianca commercial flight later that same year that killed all 107 on board. 
 
 As Escobar stepped up his battle against the government to avoid extradition to the United States if captured, the cartel waged a bombing campaign across Bogota, Medellin and Cali, with many of the explosive devices planted by Velasquez. 
 
 He kidnapped both Andres Pastrana, when the future president was mayor of Bogota, and Francisco Santos, who later became vice president and is a cousin of President Juan Manuel Santos. 
 
 Perhaps the most shocking of Velasquez's crimes was the murder of his own girlfriend, who was also Escobar's ex-lover. 
 
 The woman, looking for revenge after Escobar forced her to have an unwanted abortion, clandestinely contacted U.S. drug authorities in an effort to become an informant, Velasquez told Semana magazine in an interview last year. 
 
 The drug baron ordered Velasquez to kill her, in what the hit man characterized as one of the most painful episodes of his life. 
 
 Families of some of the Avianca flight victims have complained that Velasquez has not shared all he knows about the crime and say that his release could mean vital facts never come to light. 
 
 During his prison stint, Velasquez provided evidence which helped jail other criminals - including an ex-senator convicted of involvement in Galan's murder. 
 
 Ironically, Velasquez's work as a government informant may put him at risk for the same kind of revenge hits that he once carried out on Escobar's behalf. 
 
 It is not clear whether the state will provide him with protection. 
 
 Like Escobar, who was gunned down by Colombian agents in 1993, Velasquez is a native of Antioquia province, once an epicenter of the narcotics trade. 
 
 (Reporting by Helen Murphy and Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Tom Hogue)
– The Colombian hit man known as "Popeye" has been freed from prison after 22 years—which works out to around 27 days for each of the 300 people he has admitted killing. John Jairo Velasquez was the chief assassin for drug lord Pablo Escobar and is believed to have had a role in thousands of killings on top of the ones for which he was imprisoned. He was freed early from his 30-year sentence after giving evidence against other criminals, and Colombia is divided on whether he deserves a second chance in society, the BBC reports. The 52-year-old—who murdered his own girlfriend on Escobar's orders—is believed to have been involved in the 1989 killing of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, the kidnapping of future President Andres Pastrana, and the bombing of an Avianca flight, which killed all 107 people on board, Reuters reports. He left prison in Bogota under heavy police guard yesterday and will be on probation for the next four years. But although his testimony against others means he is now a target for hit men himself, it's not clear whether he will be receiving ongoing protection. (Another legacy from Escobar's time as cartel boss: a herd of hippos breeding out of control.)