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The # 1
bestseller in Spanish in the United States, coming in English in 2011
A true-life story of love, drugs, war and political corruption
I N T R O D U
C T I o n
American Edition, 2007
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"On July 18th 2006, at six
o’clock in the morning, three bullet-proof SUVs with fourteen men
carrying machine guns arrive at my mother’s apartment in Bogotá, where I
have lived for the past six years. They have been sent by the American
ambassador and are there to protect me on my way to the airport, where
an airplane belonging to the Drug Enforcement Administration is loading
fuel and getting ready to take off to an undisclosed location in the
United States. The previous night, the chief of the group—a high-ranking
security officer with a strong accent, possibly from Israel—had come to
examine my passport and the boxes and items that I wanted to take with
me. Before leaving, he had warned me to stay away from the windows
because a group of suspicious people were gathering on the other side of
the small park in front of the building. Now, while the city awakens to
another ordinary Tuesday, we literally fly through half-deserted streets
and avenues, taking shortcuts here and there, a vehicle with five men in
front of us and another one following. As he scrutinizes my face, the
officer explains that we must make a stop at the embassy because before
my departure the Department of Justice wants to have a word with me.
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The headquarters of the
diplomatic mission in Bogotá - a compound of concrete standing on acres
of grass surrounded by miles of barbed wire, fences and walls - are a
true modern fortress with several entrance gates. They are the exact
opposite of the American ambassador’s residence where, a long time ago,
I attended garden and cocktail parties with his colleagues and
diplomatic wives that had been my friends. The house, not particularly
grand or large but gracious and elegant, is surrounded by manicured
lawns, the sight of which I enjoyed every afternoon from the window of
my studio during thirteen years. In the offices, a substantial part of
the staff of thousands is composed of military, intelligence,
enforcement and security officers trained to combat communists, drug
traffickers and terrorists, and every Colombian who is allowed inside
feels like a bit of a suspect and is supposed to act in consequence. At
seven in the morning the place is almost deserted, but half an hour
later five diplomatic officers make their entrance. They examine my
tourist visa B2, photocopy my passport and birth certificate, and
present me with two documents: the first one reads that all information
that I disclose to the authorities in the United States will be
considered under oath, which means that in case of perjury I will be
prosecuted under their federal laws; the second, that if the Colombian
Attorney General requests my cooperation in any criminal case I will
present myself to testify on the spot. |
European Edition, 2008 |
Contrary to the Colombian legal lingo—a tricky maze inherited from
Napoleon and polished during two hundred years by cunning lawyers—the
language used for these two conditions contained in a couple of
paragraphs is simple, straightforward and easy to understand. I raise my
hand, take my oath in front of two attorneys and two special agents
acting as witnesses, and sign. When Jerry McMillan, Attaché of the
Department of Justice, stretches out his hand and says that I am now
under the protection of the federal government of the United States of
America, I say a silent prayer for him, Ambassador William Wood and
every single one of their children. Unbeknownst to them, the USA
has just saved me from death under torture at the hands of one dozen
butchers; unbeknownst to me, I am their secret
weapon in a 2.1 billion dollar criminal case."
Copyright
Virginia Vallejo, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
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T
H E S T O R Y
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In 1983 Virginia Vallejo was Colombia’s number one television
star. A sophisticated socialite, she had been courted by the
country’s traditional billionaires when she met Pablo Escobar.
The politician of humble background
introduced the elegant anchorwoman to a world in which
never-ending floods of money poured into his charitable works
and the campaign of the presidential candidates of his choice,
at a time when both Forbes and Fortune listed him as the seventh
richest man in the world.
Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar
is the intimate biography of the legendary drug baron and the
only love story ever inspired by him. Virginia Vallejo remains the only adult
and prominent woman in Escobar’s romantic life and the witness of key events
that parted in two the history of Colombia.
The first person to read the manuscript of Amando a Pablo,
Odiando a Escobar was Nobel prize laureate Gabriel García-Márquez.
From 2007 to 2008,
Virginia Vallejo's memoir
became the #1 bestseller in Spanish in the
United States of America and every Latin American country where
it was released.
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Virginia Vallejo in 1978. Personal archive |
On June 3,
2010
Virginia Vallejo was granted political asylum in
the United States on basis of political opinion and proven
persecution for the revelations of presidential and military
corruption made in her book.
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