A Colombian necktie is a method of execution wherein the victim's throat is slashed (with a knife or other sharp object) and his or her tongue is pulled out through the open wound. Its origin coincides with the outbreak of La Violencia, the Colombian civil war which began in 1948 with the murder of leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan.
The Colombian necktie is sometimes erroneously credited to drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, but this infamous method of assassination was documented as early as 1950. It was intended as a method of psychological warfare, meant to scare and intimidate.