Marriage to the richest criminal in the worldwas a mixture of luxury and misery for Maria Victoria Henao. The very beautiful lady is widely recognized as the widow of a Colombian drug lord and narco-terrorist, Pablo Escobar. Although her husband provided her with all the good things in life, his bad reputation sometimes made her unbearable and dangerous.
Nonetheless, she stood close to him through thick and thin and never worked against him. She was married to Pablo for seventeen years until the narco-terrorist was shot dead by the police in 1993. Thereafter, Maria led a refugee life with her children.
Maria Victoria Henao, Biography, Family
Henao was born in 1961 in Colombia. She is Colombian by nationality and belongs to the Colombian ethnicity. She has two siblings – Carlos Mario Henao Vallejo and Pastora Henao Bayen.
His older brother worked with Pablo when he was still building his network in drug-related crime. Since her brother was an important member of Pablo’s small illegal business, Maria had the opportunity to meet him when she was 13 years old. Soon they fell in love and later decided to get married.
The Henaos never approved of Maria’s relationship with Pablo due to her lower social status. This forced the couple in love to flee in 1976. At the age of 27, Pablo tied a knot with Maria, who was only 15 years old. She gave birth to their first child, Juan Pablo Escobar, on February 24, 1977 and then had their daughter, Manuela Escobar, in 1984.
Although Maria is a designer and businesswoman, she is known worldwide as the wife of infamous drug lord and cocaine terrorist, Pablo Escobar, who ran the Medline cartel in the 70s and 80s. The cartel was responsible for more than 80% of the drugs smuggled into the United States at the time.
There is no doubt that Pablo adored his wife and children, but the budding criminal was involved in many affairs and had many mistresses. One of his many affairs (with a journalist named Virginia Vallejo) is well known and also well documented. Maria knew all about this affair as well as about her husband’s other mistresses, but she remained by his side.
Her decision to stay with Pablo has sparked several speculations. While many suggest it was her unconditional love that made her tolerate Pablo’s flaws, Virginia, in her book ‘Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar’, suggested that Maria was addicted to the lavish lifestyle she had. with the drug lord.
Again, Maria also knew that it would be almost impossible for her to take care of herself and her children without the support of her husband. Moreover, since she had severed all ties with her family to marry Pablo, she could not even ask for help from her family.
Married to Pablo, Maria spent 17 long years in luxury before being shot dead by police in 1993.
Maria Victoria Henao Death Rumors
Apparently, all that glitters can’t be gold.
While Henao is still alive until the date of Pablo Escobar, who broke borders in the illegal drug trade and met his fate on December 2, 1993, was trapped by Colombian police. He was 44 at the time. His whereabouts were tracked after he telephoned his son. Police surrounded the building where he was hiding in the Medellin ward. As a result, he fled to the rooftops, where he was shot by police.
Photos of his lifeless body lying on a rooftop in Medellín, Colombia broke the internet at the time.
With the notorious criminal out of the way, a team of police tracked down Pablo’s house and seized all of his belongings, leaving the family with nothing. Maria had to flee to Colombia, because the local police were chasing her. She led the life of a refugee in Colombia and many other countries in a short time with her children. They then settled in Argentina with new names.
Now 56, Henao who changed her name to MaríaIsabel Santos Caballero to hide her identity currently lives in Argentina with her family. They have kept a low profile since the death of her husband and she currently lives in an apartment in Bueno Aires, with her son and Pablo’s mother.
Net worth of Maria Victoria Henao
Ever since the family decided to lead a life completely in the shadows, nothing is known about Henao’s profession and net worth.
Nonetheless, her husband was considered the richest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of $30 billion.
