Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN
Pablo Escobar’s widow has become embroiled in a war of words with the drug lord’s former lover after the latter accused her of enjoying his cash despite ditching his surname.
The kingpin’s widow, Maria Isabel Santos, formerly known as Maria Victoria Henao, 58, made the comments in an interview with Telemundo, responding to comments made by Virginia Vallejo, 69, the journalist who her husband reportedly had an affair with.
Vallejo reportedly told Santos publicly: “You are ashamed of your husband’s surname but you are not ashamed to use the millions that he left.”
Pictures Credit: CEN/Un Nuevo Dia
The comments referred to the fact the Henao changed her name and the names of her children after her husband’s death to make a break from the drug lord.
Henao responded by saying: “Virginia is very far from my history and reality, she does not know anything about it. It’s nothing to do with being ashamed of the surname Escobar. In fact, the identity change was to look for a place in the world where we don’t have to change.
“The world was not opening any doors nor any countries to the Escobar family.”
She added that she does not lead a luxury lifestyle and claims she did not inherit a fortune, saying: “From the millions of Pablo Escobar, the Colombian State has it very clear, they have his properties in their power and some of his enemies also kept his money.”
Henao, who reportedly met him when she was 12 years old and was forced to have an abortion when she was 14, confessed that it was impossible to end their relationship despite trying multiple times: “Every time I wanted to end the relationship because of the cheating and the horror, he continued to seduce me.”
Her level of anguish during the violent operations to try and capture her husband reached levels where she reportedly wanted both her and her family to die, saying: “I was looking at my children and saying ‘I don’t want anybody to stay alive’, there was no option.”
She published a book about her life with the famous drug lord called: “Mi Vida y Mi Carcel Con Pablo Escobar” (“My Life and My Prison With Pablo Escobar”).
Pablo Escobar died in a shootout with the authorities on 2nd December 1993.
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