Juan Strickler, also known as El Rubio, is a character appearing in Grand Theft Auto Online as the main antagonist in The Cayo Perico Heist update.
He is portrayed by the late Joseph Melendez.
History[]
Background[]
El Rubio is considered the world's most notorious narcotrafficker, who owns the island of Cayo Perico in Colombia, one of the most secure private islands in the entire world, and uses it as the nerve center of his drug empire.[4] He was also involved in turf wars and the disappearance of reporters, and is also supplier to the Madrazo Cartel, a Mexican cartel operating in the San Andreas. [5][6]
Little information is given about El Rubio's past. He briefly mentions that his grandfather ("Opa") was German, meaning he is a Colombian of German descent and suggesting he is a descendant of one of the many Germans who immigrated to Colombia during World War II.[7]
The Strickler family's coat of arms has the motto "Mit Offenen Armen", meaning "With Open Arms" in German, and is used as the territorial coat of arms of his own private island. Strickler is also a firearms expert, owning a golden dubbed "Perico Pistol" engraved with his coat of arms. A golden "El Strickler" military rifle, modified from the Vom Feuer Military Rifle used by his private security, was also patented by Strickler himself.[8]
Several vintage photographs can be found inside El Rubio's Compound, including a Colombian farm, gunslingers and several characters possibly depicting Strickler's ancestors. Other modern photographs of Strickler himself can also be found in the compound, referencing famous pictures of real-life Colombian drug cartel leaders.
The storage rooms and office in his compound contain many photographs on the walls showing him engaged in various activities, including:
- Playing Golf at Los Santos Golf Club in a Caddy.
- Relaxing in the cave pool at the Richman Mansion with two women in bikinis.
- Dancing in front of a Festival Bus wearing a costume.
- Piloting a Velum.
- Fishing off the back of a Dignity or Galaxy Super Yacht.
- Posing for a Police mugshot.
- Posing at Premium Deluxe Motorsport with Simeon Yetarian in front of an orange Emerus.
- Posing with two women inside a nightclub.
- Standing outside the gate of the Epsilon Center in Rockford Hills with an unidentified younger man.
- Having dinner with a middle-aged woman overlooking the Downtown Los Santos skyline.
- There are other featured photos of this mature woman, indicating she is probably a close relative.
Stock images of Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online gameplay are used to represent these vintage photographs in Colombia due to the lack of vintage-looking areas in San Andreas and late 1890s-looking pedestrians, also serving as an Easter egg towards these titles.
Events of Grand Theft Auto Online[]
Los Santos Summer Special[]
El Rubio was first mentioned at the end of the Los Santos Summer Special update, in a 10-second teaser for The Cayo Perico Heist update entitled "surveil.exe", which consisted of a digital surveillance file entitled the El Rubio Dossier. The 10-second teaser concluded with a view of the corpse of a John Doe on Vespucci Beach with the notation his last known visual contact was at LSIA and that his known affiliations include El Rubio.
The Cayo Perico Heist[]
Strickler is introduced by name when the player meets Miguel Madrazo at The Music Locker in 2020. Miguel claims he somehow managed to get hold of "decades' worth of intel" which he was threatening to take to the DEA unless the cartel renegotiate their drug supply prices.
Strickler is seen greeting the player, English Dave, and Keinemusik when they arrive at the island's airfield. After a short talk, the player is required to drive him and English Dave to the party, where he gets Scott Storch to read a pre-written sycophantic introduction speech before introducing Keinemusik to take over the DJ position. Later, while scoping out the island, the player witnesses Strickler ordering his guards to execute Gustavo for embarrassing him in front of his guests, by feeding him to his black panther. If the player returns to continue scoping out the island, Strickler can be found dancing in his seat at the beach party.
During the heist itself, Strickler resides in his secure compound and can be heard over the loudspeaker system berating his guards. Once he realized that his vault has been robbed, he mans the minigun of his Valkyrie MOD.0 to hunt for and attack the player. He will continuously taunt and insult the online protagonist via loudspeaker until they manage to escape the island. After the protagonist successfully retrieves the Madrazo files during the initial heist, Miguel remains in contact with Pavel and continues supplying information on Strickler's shipments and securities, allowing the protagonist to keep robbing Cayo Perico as they please.
During the subsequent heist playthroughs, Strickler can be heard ranting over the loudspeaker about being robbed, at one point implying that he had the majority of his original guards killed for their failure in stopping the players, and later confirmed by Pavel on phone messages after completing a heist replay, as he witnessed the murders on satellite images of the island. During these rants, he claims that he thinks one of his guards helped the robbers.[9]
The Contract[]
While El Rubio doesn't physically appear in The Contract update, it's mentioned that Pavel has visited Franklin Clinton's Agency (offscreen) in 2021, looking for the GTA Online Protagonist, and asking when the protagonist is going to take "another trip to the Caribbean", confirming they are still occasionally robbing El Rubio's Compound to this date.
Personality[]
When in public, Strickler presents himself as a fun and generous philanthropist and attempts to maintain a good image. However, when alone, he is revealed to be vicious and ruthless. During The Cayo Perico Heist, he can be heard threatening his guards over the speakers on the island, oftentimes for minor things. Because of his brutality, he can be a very intimidating man, as seen during his conversation with Scott Storch.
Due to the countless robberies in his compound since 2020, Strickler has become extremely paranoid, and it has gotten to the point where he has stopped trusting his own employees and security guards, constantly ranting about their failure in stopping the players, and killing his own employees after suspecting they were helping the players rob him.
Characters Murdered by Juan Strickler[]
- Unidentified heist crew - Killed by Strickler or his private militia at some point before 2020, after successfully robbing his island. Tracked down six months after the robbery through their weapons, and their body parts were fed to Strickler's panther.
- Unidentified journalists - Killed by Strickler or his private militia at some point before 2020.
- Gustavo - Fed alive to Strickler's panther for embarrassing him in front of his party guests.
- Several of his own guards and employees - Killed by Strickler after each heist playthrough, after suspecting they were helping the players rob his island.[10]
Prominent Appearances in Gameplay[]
The Cayo Perico Heist[]
Gallery[]
Influence[]
El Rubio's character background appears to be inspired by Carlos Lehder, due to his German ancestry and Colombian nationality and the linguistic combination of Spanish and German in his name, and owning a private island which serves as a drug-smuggling operation headquarters and party island.
His character and voice is similar to Scarface film protagonist Tony Montana, portrayed by Al Pacino; both characters are obsessed with wild cats (and both have one as pets) and valuable antiques (as shown in Scarface: The World Is Yours video game).
He also bears some resemblance to the late John McAfee, founder of McAfee Corporation, who has been the subject of paranoiac behavior and legal troubles over drug manufacturing, weapon possession, and murder during his residency in Belize in the early-2010s.
The literal translation of "El Rubio" is "The Blonde" in Spanish. His other nickname, "The Blond Colombian", also alludes to this.
Trivia[]
- Some of his pictures found inside the compound reference pictures of the Medellín Cartel.
- The picture of him piloting a Velum references the picture of Carlos Lehder piloting a plane.
- The picture of him posing for a Police mugshot references Pablo Escobar's famous mugshot picture.
- The picture of him standing infront of the Epsilon program building references the picture of Pablo Escobar standing infront of The White House with his son.
- Screenshots of Red Dead Redemption 2 ped models are reused in-game for vintage photographs of Strickler's possible ancestors in a form of Easter egg, including generic ranchers, outlaws, and story characters such as Andreas and his unnamed family members, all representing unnamed relatives of Strickler in Colombian territory.
- These screenshots, along with Red Dead Redemption 2 terrain assets and ambience sounds used for Cayo Perico, were included as part of a collaboration with Rockstar San Diego (Red Dead IP owners) as a promotion to the previously released The Naturalist update in Red Dead Online.
- As with other cases of Stock Footage of non-GTA HD Universe titles (e.g. L.A. Noire footage), Rockstar North avoids referring to these characters and locations by name.
- Strickler is wearing a Legendary Beaver Flop Hat from Red Dead Redemption 2 in the picture of him at a Festival Bus party.
References[]
- ↑ A picture of him with Simeon at Premium Deluxe Motorsport can be found on his office.
- ↑ A picture of him standing outside of the Epsilon Program building can be seen in a storage room.
- ↑ Joseph Melendez on Instagram
- ↑ Quote(01/07/2025)“Strickler's got this private island off the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Grows a bunch of coke and weed down there... has got himself some big compound. Lots of guards, hi-tech security, the whole works.”— Miguel Madrazo during The Music Locker introduction cutscene.
- ↑ Quote(01/07/2025)“A lot gets written about you on the internet. They talk about cocaine, turf wars, missing journalists. [...]”— Scott Storch's speech during Heist Prep: Gather Intel.
- ↑ Quote(01/07/2025)“This guy. Juan Strickler. They call him El Rubio. The Blond Colombian. One of our main suppliers.”— Miguel Madrazo during The Music Locker introduction cutscene.
- ↑ Quote(01/07/2025)“My opa was German. Must be why I love the techno.”— Juan Strickler's introduction to Keinemusik during Heist Prep: Gather Intel.
- ↑ Quote(01/07/2025)“Nothing screams “Class Act” like gunning down disloyal lackeys with a gold-plated Military Rifle. This custom design was personally overseen by noted firearms specialist Juan Strickler.”— Gun Van and Social Club description.
- ↑ “Now remember. Until it's proved otherwise, I'm going to assume every guard in this island is a spy”— Juan Strickler to his guards.
- ↑ “Do NOT fail me again. Do not... Please... I'm so fucking bored of executing employees!”— Juan Strickler to his guards.