The figure of the drug trafficker, Pablo Escobar, struck down 14 years ago, still buffets the Colombian political class. Virginia Vallejo of 57 years, lover and fiancée for five years of the head of the Medellín Cartel, the most powerful criminal organisation that has existed in Colombia, has broken a long silence to speak of the past and the present of her country. In the book, ‘Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar’ (Amando a Pablo, Odiando a Escobar), Vallejo attacks prominent political leaders, attributing to them intimate links with the drug lord. A refugee in the United States expecting to obtain political asylum, Virginia Vallejo gave El Pais a long interview, the first since leaving Colombia more than a year ago. Having disappeared from the scene for more than a decade, in which gossip and rumour of the worst kind proliferated, the television presenter, reporter, model and actress, returns to the arena as an inconvenient witness for the Colombian politicians. The President, Ã

---