If you've watched Netflix hit Narcos then chances are you're wondering how accurate the drama really is. Was there really that much money? How close were those run-ins Pablo had with the police? And did he really wear those awful jumpers?
One person who's particularly intriguing is Tata, Pablo Escobar's long-suffering wife. Starting off a meek and mild 15 year old, she grows into the fearsome matriarch of the Escobar household, keeping it together when Pablo's on the run.
Who is Tata Escobar?
Pablo Escobar's wife Maria Victoria Henao (nicknamed 'Tata') married Pablo when she was 15 - they met when she was 13 and he was 24. Yep. They had two children together, Manuela Escobar and Juan Pablo.
In June 1993, six months before Pablo's death, Victoria's brother Carlos Arturo Henao was gunned down gangland style outside Medellin airport in an attack reported to have been orchestrated to hurt Pablo.
What happened to Tata Escobar?
Once Pablo died, Maria and her children Manuela and Juan Pablo sought refuge in Argentina to escape the wrath of Pablo's fellow drug lords. Argentina granted the family asylum and allowed them to change their identity. Tata became Maria Isabel Santos Caballero.
The family stayed put in a flat in Buenos Aires for several years when in 2000, their identities were leaked on TV. Hours afterwards, Maria and her son, now renamed Juan Sebastian, were arrested for laundering money after police staked out their apartment in Nunez for several months. They were thought to have amassed a fortune of $1 billion. However, the charges against them were dropped.
Maria claimed she was being persecuted by Argentina to prove that the government were taking steps to combat the drugs trade. She said ' I am the ideal scapegoat any country would need to cover its ineffectiveness in fighting drug trafficking.'
In 2009, Juan Sebastian released a film called The Sins Of My Father, with the help of his mother, in which he apologised for his father's actions.
In 2019, Tata appeared in another documentary Tata - Escobar's widow, and published a book Mrs Escobar: My Life with Pablo.
Where is Tata Escobar now?
Tata still lives in Argentina today, under the name María Isabel Santos Caballero.