Maria Victoria Henao had no notion that Pablo Escobar would one day rule the Medelln Cartel when she fell in love with him.
Maria Victoria Henao claims that when she was just 12 years old, she met the “love of her life.” Not the first adjectives most people would choose to characterize the infamous cocaine lord Pablo Escobar, she described the 23-year-old man as “affectionate,” “kind,” and “a gentleman.”
Nevertheless, the youthful Henao married the considerably older Escobar in 1976, just a few years later. She was adamant on being with her “Prince Charming” despite their startling age disparity and her family’s displeasure.
Henao once remarked, “He was a fantastic lover. “I was smitten by his desire to assist others and his empathy for their plight. We would travel to the locations where he had envisioned creating impoverished people’s schools.
Henao eventually remained with Escobar until his gruesome demise in 1993. However, their narrative was convoluted, particularly because she wasn’t exactly interested in joining him in his criminal activities. Near the end, Henao had developed a deep hatred for pretty much everything in her husband’s world, particularly his numerous affairs with several women.
Maria Victoria Henao continues to insist that she had a real love affair with Pablo Escobar. But throughout the course of their 17-year marriage, he also caused great suffering on her, as well as on their entire nation of Colombia.
How Maria Henao Got Married to Pablo Escobar
Maria Victoria Henao, who was born in Palmira, Colombia, in 1961, first met Pablo Escobar when she was just a child. Her parents had been against the romance from the start. They had mistrust for Escobar, a Vespa-riding resident of their neighborhood and the son of a watchman.
Henao, though, was certain that she had fallen in love. In her autobiography, Mrs. Escobar: My Life with Pablo, she stated, “I met Pablo when I was barely 12 years old and he was 23. He was my one and only love in the entire world.
Henao claimed that her future spouse put a lot of effort into luring her. Along with gifts like a yellow bicycle, he sang her love songs and serenaded her.
She added, “I was certain he was my Prince Charming and that he made me feel like a fairy princess.”
However, their initial courtship was far but a fairytale. Later, Henao recalled how her considerably older boyfriend’s first kiss left her “paralyzed with fear.”
She subsequently admitted, “I was not ready.” I lacked the necessary knowledge to comprehend the significance of that close, intense interaction. Henao, who was then 14 years old, became pregnant when their connection turned sexual.
She wasn’t old enough or wise enough to understand what was happening to her. Escobar, however, was fully aware of the situation and swiftly drove his future wife to an abortion clinic in a side street. There, a woman misrepresented the surgery by asserting that it would aid in preventing future pregnancies.
Henao recalled, “I was in excruciating pain, but I couldn’t say anything to anyone.” “I would just ask God for a quick end to it.”
Maria Victoia Henao consented to wed Pablo Escobar in 1976 despite the agony of the forced abortion.
She recalled their wedding night as “a night of indescribable love that remains etched on my skin as one of the happiest moments of my life.” “I wanted the intimacy we were experiencing to last forever and for time to stop. She was 15 years old. Her spouse was 26.
What Marrying the “King of Cocaine” Was Really Like
When Maria Victoria Henao wed Pablo Escobar, her spouse had grown past the juvenile misdemeanors. He had only begun to establish his drug business. As the head of the Medelln Cartel around ten years later, he was in charge of 80 percent of the cocaine supplied to the United States.
Henao remained motionless at his side. She later recalled, “I grew up being molded by Pablo to be his wife and the mother of his children, not to question or confront his choices, to look the other way.
Henao asserts that her husband withheld his occupation from her for the first few years of their marriage. But of course, she soon discovered that he was frequently out on “business” and that he was making an unnaturally big amount of money.
Henao first made an effort to ignore the situation and just take pleasure in her husband’s increased income. In the open, Pablo Escobar’s wife indulged in the finer things in life, taking in fashion shows, luxury jets, and famous works of art.
However, she was troubled in secret by her husband’s involvement in the vicious world of crime. And his affairs particularly tormented her.
Henao finally gave birth to two children, and as their family grew, Escobar had innumerable affairs with other women. He even constructed his own “bachelor pad” at their home at one point during his marriage to Henao so he could meet his mistresses directly in front of his wife.
She admitted that she found the continual rumors about his extramarital affairs to be extremely upsetting. “I recall crying all night long while waiting for daybreak.”
Escobar’s misdeeds, however, obviously went much beyond adultery. His cartel murdered a presidential contender, destroyed a commercial airplane, and assassinated Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara in 1984 as his riches and power increased.
Henao had reached a stage where she was forced to confront her husband’s harsh line of “work,” especially as family life got more structured. When Henao and her kids requested to see Escobar near the end, cartel members blindfolded them and took them to safehouses. Henao was meanwhile constantly concerned that one of her husband’s foes would murder her.
By 1993, it was evident that Escobar’s time was running out. Escobar eventually disclosed to Maria Victoria Henao his desire for the family to go to a safehouse under the protection of the government.
She remembered, “I cried and cried.” “Leaving my life’s love just as the world was collapsing on him was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.”
Pablo Escobar was shot and executed by Colombian police in December of that year on a rooftop in Medelln.
2019 will see Maria Henao on television. She has recently come back into the spotlight to share her experience.
The drug lord’s family, including his wife, son, and daughter, quietly and fearfully wept while the world rejoiced at his passing. Maria Victoria Henao and her two children packed their belongings and left when Colombian authorities raided Medelln and apprehended Escobar’s cartel.
The family eventually made their way to Buenos Aires, Argentina, after being denied refuge by Germany and Mozambique. The group then decided to adopt new names. Maria Victoria Henao was also known as Maria Isabel Santos Caballero and Victoria Henao Vallejos. (Today, Victoria Eugenia Henao is her preferred name.)
But the widow of Pablo Escobar faced additional difficulties in Argentina. Maria Victoria Henao and her son Juan Pablo were both detained for several months in 1999 after being arrested on suspicion of money laundering. Henao claimed to the media after her release that she had been detained because of who she was and not for any alleged wrongdoing.
She declared, “I’m a prisoner in Argentina because I’m Colombian. They want to demonstrate that Argentina is fighting drug trafficking by putting the ghost of Pablo Escobar on trial.
Henao largely avoided the spotlight for close to two decades after her discharge. However, she has spoken up about her relationship with Escobar in recent years. Mrs. Escobar: My Life with Pablo, her book, provides insight into both her illustrious husband and her own mysterious personality.
Henao still finds it impossible to reconcile her affection for Pablo Escobar with the horrific deeds he committed. She claims to be filled with “immense anguish and guilt” for the “immense pain my husband caused”—not just for their family but also for the entire nation of Colombia. Henao expressed her regret for her late husband’s reign of terror in a 2018 interview with Colombia’s W Radio.
She remarked, “I ask for forgiveness for what I did in my youth,” and clarified that she was not a cartel member. “My life wasn’t going so well,” she said.
