Breaking Bad has become today’s legendary series because of all the characters who have revolved around Walt in the Show. Among them, unquestionably, one of the most charismatic is certainly the fearsome Gus Fring, the best villain of the show, played by Giancarlo Esposito. Although he also appears in Better Call Saul’s prequel, we know very little about this character’s past.
Dozens of theories had flooded the web to explain the years before he met Walt. One, which went viral on Reddit, wants Fringe as a collaborator of the CIA. If said that sounds absurd, wait until you hear the whole story, and you will find that it makes incredible sense.
We know Gus that he was a Chilean citizen. He emigrated to Mexico in 1986, where he was involved in the cartel before reaching Albuquerque. Although he grew up in Chile, Hank Schrader explains how there was no evidence that he lived there.
Fans speculated that Gus was a Chilean citizen who closely helped the CIA. Gus, in fact, emigrated to Mexico during the period in which Augusto Pinochet. The latter’s regime took over with the help of the United States to overthrow the communist or socialist governments.
Gus once mentioned Pinochet and his government’s lack of documents when questioned by Hank about his Chilean past. In a flashback, Hector Salamanca referred to Gus as the Great Generalissimo, a hint of the man’s involvement in the Pinochet regime. If Gus worked for the Chilean government, then it may have been because of the insistence of the CIA.
The agency could have erased Gus’s past and forced him to move to Mexico after the fall of Pinochet following the dictator’s human rights violations. Once in Mexico, Fringe made contact with cartel leader Don Eladio. Interestingly, Gus has been in touch with the most significant drug kingpin without having any cartel experience. The theory, therefore, holds that Gus was induced by the CIA to infiltrate the cartel and rise to power. Gus’s presence in the cartel would give the CIA greater control over drug trafficking.
This would explain why Gus wanted to focus on methamphetamine and not cocaine, as well as describe how he quickly entered the United States without the proper documentation.
