Quick Facts
Biography
Maria Isabel Marieta, also known as Victoria Eugenia Henao Vallejo, is the wife of drug-lord Pablo Escobar.
Maria was born in 1961, in Colombia. She has two siblings - Carlos Mario Henao Vallejo and Pastora Henao Bayen.
She met Pablo Escobar through his brother, Carlos, who at the time used to work with Pablo. Their relationship was opposed by the Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior. Maria and Pablo eloped and got married in March 1976 - at the time, she was 15 and Pablo, 26. The couple had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela. Despite Escobar's numerous and continual infidelities, Maria remained supportive of her husband, though she urged him to eschew violence.
On 2 December 1993, when Maria was 31, Pablo died in a shootout. Concerned about her and her children’s security, in 1995, Maria with her children fled Colombia. They sought refuge in Mozambique, Brazil and finally settled in Argentina. There, she changed her name to Maria Isabel Santos Caballero. Juan changed his name to Sebastian Marroquin whereas Manuela changed hers to Juana Manuela Marroquin.
In Argentina, Maria, under her new identity as María Isabel Santos Caballero, became a successful real estate entrepreneur. Her son, Sebastián Marroquín became a successful architect in Colombia. In 2014, he authored a book, Pablo Escobar: My Father.
However her real identity was discovered by one of her business associates, and Maria was imprisoned for eighteen months while her finances were investigated. Ultimately, authorities were unable to link her funds to illegal activity, and she was released.
On June 5, 2018, the Argentine federal judge Nestor Barral accused her and his son, Sebastián Marroquín Santos, of money laundering with two Colombian drug traffickers.