Colombia Gives Part Of Pablo Escobar's Estate To Female Victims Of The Country's Armed Conflict

The Colombian government is giving part of Pablo Escobar's estate to female victims of the country's decades-long, President Gustavo Petro announced.

Petro echoed a social media publication from the head of the state-run National Land Agency detailing that some women were leased 120 hectares of land to "build homes and work the land." Harman Felipe claimed that in 2017 the women were evicted by a municipal administration but now they have recovered it.

Escobar's estate was estimated at $25 billion at one point during the 1980s, according to Forbes magazine.

Hacienda Napoles is located in northwest Antioquia and is largely known for its exotic animals, especially the hippos that started to reproduce and freely roam around after Escobar was killed by law enforcement in 1993.

After his death, the state took over the hacienda and leased it to local authorities, who turned into a theme part that included a hotel and a zoo.

Last year a court ruled that hippos in the area should be eradicated after failed efforts to contain the population, the largest outside of Africa. It started with just four hippos which Escobar smuggled in, and despite countless efforts to contain them, authorities estimated last year that around 166 hippos were roaming freely in the area.

It was not the first time that Colombia's Ministry of Environment tried to put an end to the growing population of hippos. In late 2023, it launched an effort to sterilize part of the animals as well as euthanizing others. Plans to relocate dozens of hippos to Mexico, India, and the Philippines have also been unfruitful.

The invasive species has been increasingly posing problems for the local community. But despite their impact, people are conflicted on what to do with them. In 2009, the killing of one of these hippos nicknamed Pepe saw street protests that eventually led to prompting a ban on hippo hunting in 2012.

In their homeland in Africa, the animals are responsible for more human deaths than almost any other animal but in Colombia, the hippos have become loved members of the local community and a tourist attraction. According to BBC Wildlife, hippos cause an estimated 500 human deaths annually.

Originally published on Latin Times