Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar
VIRGINIA VALLEJO:
Top Colombian television journalist, cover model and socialite
PABLO ESCOBAR:
Head of the Medellin cartel, the founder of the global cocaine industry and one of the most ambitious - and brutal - criminals in history
Over the course of their tempestuous love affair, Vallejo witnessed first-hand the bloodshed, fear and corruption that accompanied the rise of Escobar's crime empire. In this explosive tale of drugs, sex, wealth and violence, Vallejo describes the man she knew and loved. But, increasingly plagued by threats of kidnap and death for her knowledge on Escobar's ties to the political establishment, Vallejo sought extradition to the United States. Her testimony would reopen one of the most important criminal cases in Colombian history.
Virginia Vallejo is a Colombian author, journalist and media personality, and a political asylee in the United States of America since 2010. From 1972 to 1994, she was one of the leading television and radio hosts in her native country. In 2006, with her life at risk, the United States took her out of Colombia to testify in high profile criminal cases. Her memoir became the number one bestselling book in Spanish in the United States, and has inspired a string of documentaries and television serials such as Narcos, and upcoming film Loving Pablo starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem.
Megan McDowell has translated many contemporary authors from Latin America and Spain, including Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enriquez, Lina Meruane, Diego Zuñiga, and Carlos Fonseca. Her translations have been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Harper's and Vice. She lives in Chile.