The story of the gardener Pablo Escobar and his fight against the state

On the banks of El Peñol reservoir, in the tourist town of Guatapé, the late drug lord, Pablo Escobar, built a huge resting place in honor of his daughter, La Manuela. Since then, the gardener that he hired, William Duque, lives there. Now, after more than 30 years, the state wants to do it to impose the extinction of the field completed in 2005.

They say that La Manuela was the favorite second home of the Medellín cartel leader after the Naples farm. It was a majestic mansion built on a plot of eight hectares, surrounded by a swimming pool, a football field, a helipad, tennis courts, stables. , from a seaplane dock, to a special entrance for imported motorcycles and trees.

Although less known, La Manuela was also a reflection of the eccentricities of the drug trafficker. The walls of the main house were built with a double bottom to serve as coves to the money of the coca trade. In addition, he had a guest house and relied on a security organization consisting of 120 badbadins.

In 1993, Los Pepes, composed of paramilitaries and capos of the Cali cartel, their maximum enemy, bombed the mansion and exploded 200 kilograms of explosives. Eight months after the incident, the police force was killed by the police on the roof of a house in Medellín while he was trying to flee.

All this was lived in the flesh by William Duque, who was hired by Escobar's wife, María Victoria Henao, as the mansion's gardener. Later, he became guardian and after the death of the capo, the widow asked her to take care of her. At the edge of the farm, he sets up a bar-restaurant where he offers customers a game of paintball among the ruins of La Manuela.

Thanks to this company, Duque was able to support his family and educate his two 25- and 27-year-old children who were born there and who know him as their only home. But today lives a tragedy because the state wants to withdraw it to recover the property that has a punishment of extinction of field since 2005, and to deliver it to the municipal administration of El Peñol; detailed The weather.

The case is part of an operation implemented by the SAE company (Special Assets Company) to recover buildings "illegally occupied" in the department of Antioquia, for a total of 1,334 badets. This, so that local governments develop projects for the benefit of communities.

Among these cases, there is Duque, which does not have a lease and which apparently does not have a business license for the restaurant and bar. But the former gardener has been hiding for many years that he has lived on the farm with his entire family, including his father and sister, who are 90 years old. said The weather.

That is why he filed before the Supreme Court of Justice, several years ago, a complaint that has not yet failed. "Some time ago, they told me to leave the farm because some investors wanted to invest some money in. I said that the payment of the rights that I have acquired here was no problem, but nothing was done, "he said. Duc to the national environment.

For the Government of Antioquia, the use of La Manuela is irregular, as it is part of the destinations of the famous "narcotours" with which we remember Pablo Escobar. Duke claims instead that he would never apologize to the mafia and that 10 people working in his company depend on him; who also has commercial registration and pays the rent.

But the state expelled him on Thursday, April 11th. "They can take me out because they are the authority and I respect them, but it seems incredible to me that they bring in the public force, the fire brigade, the civil defense, the ambulances, we do not are neither criminals nor fugitives, but a family that has worked Honestly, "he says to The weather.