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Virginia Vallejo

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Virginia Vallejo
Virginia Vallejo in 1987
Born (1949-08-26) 26 August 1949 (age 74)
Cartago, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
NationalityColombian
Occupations
Years active1972–present
Spouse(s)
Fernando Borrero
​
​
(m. 1969; div. 1971)​

David Stivel
​
​
(m. 1978; div. 1981)​
Parent(s)Juan Vallejo Jaramillo
Mary García Rivera
RelativesJaime Jaramillo (great uncle)
Websitevirginiavallejo.com

Template:Spanish name Virginia Vallejo García (born 26 August 1949) is a Colombian author, journalist, television director, anchorwoman,[1] media personality, socialite, and political asylee in the United States of America. On July 18, 2006, the DEA took her out of Colombia in a special flight to save her life and cooperate with the Department of Justice in high-profile cases, after she had publicly accused several Colombian presidents and politicians of being beneficiaries and accomplices of the leading cocaine cartels.[2]

Early life

Family and childhood

Virginia Vallejo was born on August 26, 1949 in Cartago, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, near her family’s ranch. Her parents were Juan Vallejo Jaramillo, an entrepreneur, and Mary García Rivera.[3] Her grandfather, Eduardo Vallejo Varela, had been minister of economy;[4][5] and her grandmother, Sofía Jaramillo Arango, was a descendant of Alonso Jaramillo de Andrade Céspedes y Guzmán, a nobleman from Extremadura, Spain.[6][7]

In 1950, the young family returned to Bogotá, where her siblings, Felipe (1951), Antonio (1955-2012), and Sofía (1957) were born.[8] She studied first in the kindergarten of Elvira Lleras Restrepo, sister of President Carlos Lleras Restrepo, a friend of her family.[9] Then, in the Anglo Colombian School, co-founded by her great uncle Jaime Jaramillo Arango, former minister of education and ambassador to London, Berlin, the United Nations and Unesco.[10][11]

Early career and marriages

In 1967 and 1968, she worked as an English teacher in the Centro Colombo Americano in Bogotá and, in 1969, in the presidency of Banco del Comercio. The same year, she married Fernando Francisco, CEO of CBS Security and Data, Zamorano and Giovanelli, but they were divorced in 1971.[12][13] In 1972, while she was working as director of public relations of Cervecería Andina, she received an invitation to join an upcoming television program directed by Carlos Lemos Simmonds and Aníbal Fernández de Soto.[14]

In 1978, she married David Stivel, the Argentinian television, theater and film director, and head of the Clan Stivel.[15] The marriage ended in 1981.

Career in the media

Introduction

Until 1998, there were only three television channels in Colombia that belonged to the Government: two commercial and one official. Inravisión, the official broadcasting entity, leased spaces to independent television producers known as programadoras, many owned by prominent journalists or presidential families.[16][17] That is the reason why Virginia Vallejo could work simultaneously as a news anchor and presenter of other programs.

1970s

From 1972 to 1975, she was as the presenter of “¡Oiga Colombia, Revista del Sábado!”, a program directed by Carlos Lemos Simmonds and Fernández de Soto.[14] From 1973 to 1975, she was the host of the television musical shows “Éxitos 73”, “Éxitos 74” and “Éxitos 75”, produced by THOY, the programadora of the family of President Julio César Turbay.[18]

In 1973, she began working as a reporter on TV Sucesos-A3, the newscast directed by Alberto Acosta; and, from 1975 to 1977, she became the international editor.[19] In the early and mid seventies, she hosted other television programs, like the quiz show TV Crucigrama, a cooking show with chef Segundo Cabezas, and a program for children.[20]

In January 1978, she became the anchorwoman of Noticiero 24 Horas, which aired at 7:00 PM, and was directed by Mauricio Gómez and Sergio Arboleda.[21] In March, the Government of Taiwan invited her to the inauguration of President Chiang Ching-kuo. The same year, she was elected as the vice-president of the board of directors of the ACL, Asociación Colombiana de Locutores (Association of Colombian Speakers). In 1978, 1979 and 1980, she won the award as the Best Television Anchor of the APE, Asociación de Periodistas del Espectáculo (Association of Entertainment Journalists).

In 1979, she co-starred in the movie Colombia Connection by Gustavo Nieto Roa.[22] In November, she appeared in Town & Country, opening the section The Beautiful Women of El Dorado. In 1979 and 1980, she presented ¡Cuidado con las Mujeres!, a program by RTI Producciones, directed by David Stivel.[23]

1980s

In 1981, she founded her own programadora, TV Impacto, with the journalist Margot Ricci.[24] That same year, the Government of Israel invited them to do a special program about The Holy Land.

In 1980 and 1982, she worked at Caracol Radio. She was the only journalist sent by a Colombian media outlet to London to cover the wedding of the Prince of Wales, Charles, and Lady Diana Spencer, on July 29, 1981. Vallejo’s broadcast for Caracol lasted three hours.[25] She covered the Miss Colombia pageant for the same station until 1985.

Between 1981 and 1983, she directed her program ¡Al Ataque! She was the first television journalist to interview Pablo Escobar in January 1983. The interview was filmed at the garbage dump of Medellín. During the interview Pablo Escobar described the charity project Medellín Sin Tugurios (Medellin without slums) launched by Escobar and his partners. The interview propelled Escobar on to the national stage.[26]

In 1983 and 1984, she presented Hoy por Hoy, Magazín del Lunes at 7 pm. In 1984, she made a television commercial for Medias Di Lido (pantyhose), in Venice, Italy, followed by another three in Rio de Janeiro, San Juan and Cartagena.[27] In 1983 and 1984, she presented the musical El Show de las Estrellas, directed by Jorge Barón.[28] In 1984, she became the international editor of the Grupo Radial Colombiano (a network founded by the Cali Cartel), directed by Carlos Lemos Simmonds. In 1985, she became the anchorwoman of the newscast Telediario, directed by Arturo Abella.[29]

In 1985, she appeared on the covers of Bazaar and Cosmopolitan. Also, in Elenco, a magazine of El Tiempo that presented her as “the symbol of an era”.[30] In 1988, she won a scholarship from the German Government, and she studied economic journalism in Berlin at the Internationales Institut für Journalismus.

1990s

In 1991, she returned to Colombia to co-star in the soap opera Sombra de tu Sombra of Caracol Televisión.[31] In 1992, she presented ¡Indiscretísimo!, directed by Manuel Prado.[32] From 1992 to 1994, she worked at Todelar radio. In October 1994, she ended her career in the Colombian media in order to open the South American operation of a multilevel company based in the United States.

2000s

Between 2009 and 2010, she worked as a columnist for the Venezuelan newspaper 6to Poder, directed by the opposition journalist Leocenis García; but, President Hugo Chávez closed the newspaper and jailed the director.[33][34]

Exile to the U.S.

In early July 2006, Vallejo offered her testimony in the case against Alberto Santofimio,[35] a former Justice Minister and associate of Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellín cartel and her lover from 1983 to 1987. The politician was on trial for conspiracy in the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, a presidential candidate killed by Pablo Escobar on August 18, 1989. The following week, the Prosecutor Edgardo José Maya Villazón closed the case “for lack of evidence”. All of Escobar’s hitmen in the crime and several key witnesses against Santofimio had been killed, so Vallejo contacted the American Embassy in Bogotá and asked the US Government to help save her life in exchange for information on the associates of Pablo Escobar and brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela of the Cali cartel, Pablo Escobar’s nemesis. The brothers had been extradited by President Álvaro Uribe,[36] and the trial was due to begin in Miami in a few weeks.

Vallejo's flight made news worldwide, and a home video that Vallejo had taped before her departure to protect her life was aired by Canal RCN of Colombia; according to the channel, it was watched by 14 million people, with higher rates of audience than the Football World Cup final of 2006 on June 9. Six weeks later, Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela pleaded guilty; they were sentenced to 30 years in prison, and the United States Department of Justice collected $2.1 billion ($3.2 billion today) in assets without going to trial.[37]

Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar (Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar)

In 2007, Vallejo published Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (In English: Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), in which she describes, among other topics, her romantic relationship with Pablo Escobar; the origins of the rebel organizations in Colombia; the reasons for the explosive growth of the cocaine industry; the birth of MAS (Muerte a Secuestradores), which in English means Death to Kidnappers, The Extraditables, and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia; the links among the Medellin and Cali cartels, Caribbean dictators, and the Colombian presidents Alfonso López Michelsen,[38] Ernesto Samper,[39] and Álvaro Uribe;[40][41] the siege of the Palace of Justice in 1985;[42][43] Escobar's relationship with the extreme left and extreme right rebel groups; the horrors during the era of narcoterrorism from 1988 -1993; and the hunt for and death of her former lover on December 2, 1993.[44] Vallejo’s memoir became the number one bestselling Spanish-language book in both Colombia and the United States.[45]

Testimony in the siege of the Palace of Justice

In July 2008, Vallejo testified in the reopened case of the Palace of Justice siege (November 6 & 7, 1985),[46] a massacre that cost the lives of more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court Justices, rebels of the M-19, government agents and dozens of unarmed civilians.[47] In the chapter “That Palace in Flames” (“Aquel Palacio en Llamas”),[48] she had detailed the reasons of each group of actors involved in the tragedy: “Though the M-19 and the Medellin cartel were responsible for the siege, the military were responsible for the massacre”.[49][50][51] Also, she signaled at the lack of action of President Belisario Betancur: “The rebel commanders of the M-19 took the Justices as hostage to force the government to listen to their demands, including rejection of the extradition treaty. But, President Betancur refused to take the calls of the President of the Supreme Court, Magistrate Reyes Echandia, pleading to save their lives and, instead, allowed the army and the police to bomb a building with 400 people inside”.[52][53] In her testimony under oath, she described what Pablo Escobar had told her the following year, after ten months of separation, “The people detained after the fire, many with third degree burns, were sent to military garrisons where they were tortured - and the women gang-raped[54][55] - in the hope of finding the hiding places of other rebel commanders and the money that I had paid them to steal my files before the Court ruled on our extradition. Then, the victims were killed and disappeared in cans of quicklime and sulfuric acid.”[56][57] At the end of that chapter, she had summarized the tragic events: “That holocaust was the conflagration of the Colombian justice system and the triumph of the establishment, the traditional parties, and “Los Extraditables” with Escobar at the head".[58][59]

Testimony in the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán

In July 2009, Vallejo testified in the reopened case of the assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán[60] which occurred on August 18, 1989,[61] and signaled at Alberto Santofimio as the key instigator of the candidate’s assassination.[62] She described how, in 1984 and 1985 and in her presence, Alberto Santofimio had repeatedly asked Pablo Escobar to “eliminate Senator Galan before he could become the president and extradite him”.[63][64]

Political asylum in the United States of America

Due to brutal retaliation and thousands of threats posted under the name of Vallejo in the search engines from 2007 to 2010,[65] the United States of America granted her political asylum on June 3, 2010.[66]

Verdicts against the military and Alberto Santofimio

Twenty-five years after the Palace of Justice massacre, on June 9, 2010 judge Maria Stella Jara sentenced Colonel Alfonso Plazas of the army to 30 years in prison for forced disappearance of the detained.[67][68] President Uribe attacked the verdict on television and offered his protection to the military.[69][70] The next week, with a European human rights organization, judge Jara had to flee Colombia and went into exile.[71][72][73]

After 18 years of delays and appeals, in 2007 Alberto Santofimio received a sentence of 24 years in prison for conspiracy with Pablo Escobar in the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán.[74][75][76]

Portrayal in television and cinema

The romantic relationship between Virginia Vallejo, a journalist, and Pablo Escobar, a drug lord, has inspired soap operas, serials, and movies, aired coast to coast in the United States and sold worldwide.

Television

The first was El Capo of Canal RCN of Colombia / Fox Telecolombia, with Marcela Mar in the role of the journalist. It was aired coast to coast in the United States by Telefutura in 2009, at 8 pm.[77][78]

The second was Escobar, el Patrón del Mal, of Caracol Television (2012) with Angie Cepeda in the role of Regina Parejo.[79][80]

In the Netflix series Narcos (2015), the character Valeria Velez, played by Stephanie Sigman, is allegedly based on Virginia Vallejo. The journalist is depicted as a key supporter of Escobar’s political ambitions, and in the end she is killed by The Pepes.[81]

Cinema

In the movie Loving Pablo (2017), Penelope Cruz plays her role. The movie is based on Vallejo's memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar (2007 and 2017), with Javier Bardem in the role of Pablo Escobar.[82]

The film was launched during the 74th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-September 9, 2017).[83] The two leading actors were nominated for the Goya Awards of 2018.[84]

See also

References

  1. ^ Virginia Vallejo, anchorwoman 1994 on YouTube
  2. ^ Virginia Vallejo left Colombia in special flight of the DEA, 2006
  3. ^ "Genealogy of Juan Vallejo Jaramillo". Geneanet. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Genealogy of Eduardo Vallejo Varela". Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  5. ^ González Díaz, Andrés (1984). Ministros del Siglo XX - Primera Parte [Ministers of Century XX – First Part] (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Genealogías de Colombia: Árbol genealógico de Sofia Jaramillo Arango" [Genealogies of Colombia: family tree of Sofia Jaramillo Arango] (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Ancestry of Alonso Jaramillo de Andrade". Geneall. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Family tree of Vallejo García". Geneanet. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Elvira Lleras Restrepo, notable educator". Geni. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Education of Virginia Vallejo". Virginia Vallejo, Official Website. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  11. ^ Schultes, Richard Evans (1963). "Jaime Jaramillo-Arango, 1897 - 1962". Taxon. 12 (2): 41–43. JSTOR 1216206.
  12. ^ "Genealogía de Fernando Francisco" [Genealogy of Fernando Francisco] (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Chapter: Borrero, Zamorano y Giovanelli, Banco Cafetero 1959, Cali". Documentos de Arquitectura Moderna en América Latina 1950-1965 [Documents of Modern Architecture in Latin America] (in Spanish). Institut Català de Cooperació Iberoamericana – Universidad Politécnica de Cataluya. 2004. pp. 66–72. ISBN 00-000-0000-0.
  14. ^ a b León Giraldo, Diego; Estupiñan, Cristina (3 June 2014). "Virginia Vallejo: 'Voy camino a convertirme en una leyenda'" [Virginia Vallejo: 'I'm on my way to becoming a legend']. Elenco magazine of El Tiempo (in Spanish). Miami.
  15. ^ "Perfil de David Stivel" [Profile of David Stivel]. Fundación Konex (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  16. ^ "Los Canales Privados" [The Colombian Private Channels]. Dinero (in Spanish). Bogotá. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2017. {{cite magazine}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |magazine= (help)
  17. ^ Salamanca-Uribe, Juana (April 2012). "La television como botín" [The television as political booty]. Credencial (in Spanish). Bogotá: Revista Credencial. Retrieved 5 September 2017. {{cite magazine}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |magazine= (help)
  18. ^ "THOY, of Turbay Quintero" [THOY of Turbay Quintero]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. 3 August 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  19. ^ Corzo-Ramírez, Jairo; Julio César, Gómez-Romero (20 March 2013). "Historia de la Programadora A3" [History of the TV Programmer “A3”] (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  20. ^ "Murió el chef Segundo Cabezas" [Died the chef Segundo Cabezas]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  21. ^ "El experto Sergio Arboleda" [The expert: Sergio Arboleda]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  22. ^ "Colombia Connection, 1979". IMDB. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Murió el director David Stivel" [Died the director David Stivel]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. 21 September 1992. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  24. ^ Julio César, Gómez-Romero (23 November 2015). "Historia de la programadora TV Impacto" [History of the company “TV Impacto”] (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  25. ^ Virginia Vallejo (29 July 1981). "Broadcasting the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana,1981". Caracol Radio (Podcast). Voces Caracol. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  26. ^ "Interview of Pablo Escobar by Virginia Vallejo". Al Ataque. January 1983. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  27. ^ "Virginia Vallejo in the 1980s". Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  28. ^ "El Show de Las Estrellas" [Virginia Vallejo presenta El Show de las Estrellas] (in Spanish). 1984. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  29. ^ "Arturo Abella, fundador de la televisión informativa en Colombia, murió a sus 90 años" [Died Arturo Abella, founder of news broadcasting television in Colombia]. Caracol Radio (in Spanish). Bogotá. 18 February 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  30. ^ "Selection of Virginia Vallejo´s magazine covers". Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  31. ^ "Sombra de tu Sombra". 1991. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  32. ^ "Indiscretísimo". 1992. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  33. ^ Vallejo, Virginia (17 October 2010). "Nosotros los Inermes" (PDF). "6to Poder", año 1, no. 3, 2010, P. A5. Caracas: El Nacional. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  34. ^ "Cierre 'forzoso' de grupo editorial venezolano 6to Poder por medida judicial" ['Forced' closure of Venezuelan newspaper, 6to Poder, by judicial order]. El Nuevo Herald (in Spanish). Miami. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  35. ^ Former lover of Pablo Escobar involves to colombian political in crime of presidential candidate
  36. ^ Colombian drug baron extradited
  37. ^ Cali Cartel Leaders Plead Guilty to Drug and Money Laundering Conspiracy Charges
  38. ^ Interview of the W Radio on YouTube
  39. ^ Narco-presidents on YouTube
  40. ^ El País Madrid: "El narcoestado soñado por Escobar tiene más vigencia que nunca"
  41. ^ The New York Times: President Uribe denies links with Pablo Escobar
  42. ^ Virginia Vallejo´s Testimony
  43. ^ Vallejo´s Testimony in Historical Processes
  44. ^ The New York Times: Escobar’s death
  45. ^ "Bestseller #1 in United States in 2007 & 2015". Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  46. ^ Virginia Vallejo testified about the case of the Palace of Justice Siege on YouTube
  47. ^ W Radio: Interview with Virginia Vallejo about of the Palace of Justice siege on YouTube
  48. ^ Vallejo, Virginia (2007). Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar. Random House Mondadori. p. 227-251.
  49. ^ Estado Colombiano reconoce responsabilidad en víctimas del Palacio de Justicia
  50. ^ Truth Commission Blames Colombian State for Palace of Justice Tragedy
  51. ^ Piden condena a militares (r) por desaparecidos en la toma del Palacio de Justicia
  52. ^ Expresidente Belisario Betancur pide perdón por sus actos en caso del Palacio Justicia
  53. ^ Presidente Belisario Betancourt se dirige al país asumiendo toda la responsabilidad por las acciones emprendidas por la fuerza pública on YouTube
  54. ^ Sobrevivientes de holocausto fueron torturados y sometidos a tratos inhumanos y degradantes
  55. ^ Exconsejero de Estado confirma que sí hubo torturas en retoma del Palacio de Justicia on YouTube
  56. ^ Vallejo, Virginia (2007). Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar. Random House Mondadori. p. 256-261.
  57. ^ DISAPPEARED AT THE PALACE OF JUSTICE
  58. ^ Vallejo, Virginia (2007). Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar. Random House Mondadori. p. 250.
  59. ^ Palace of Justice siege: 24 years of injustice
  60. ^ Colombian Presidential Candidate is slain at Rally
  61. ^ Ex-Colombia minister held for murder
  62. ^ Fiscal listen to Virginia Vallejo in United States on YouTube
  63. ^ "Virginia Vallejo's testimony on Santofimio and politicians supported by the drug cartels". Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  64. ^ Colombia: Ex-Minister Guilty in Assassination
  65. ^ Colombian journalist describes threats and harassment on YouTube
  66. ^ Political Asylum to Virginia Vallejo on YouTube
  67. ^ First sentence against high rank military in the case of the Palace of Justice
  68. ^ Retired Colombian army officer was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the forced disappearance of 10 civilians
  69. ^ Military Justice interfering in Palace of Justice case
  70. ^ The Colombian government should not protect military commanders from prosecution for human rights violations committed by them
  71. ^ UN urges Colombian gov't to protect judge issued landmark ruling
  72. ^ The Interamerican Commission on Human Rights has asked the government to take steps to protect the life of judge Maria Stella Jara Gutierrez and her son
  73. ^ Letter sent to President Santos of Colombia by high members of US justice and law
  74. ^ Colombia ex-justice chief jailed
  75. ^ Colombian Supreme Court upholds conviction a former justice minister for his role in the assassination of presidential candidate
  76. ^ Ex-minister transferred to prison over Galan murder
  77. ^ "Las semejanzas entre El Capo y Pablo Escobar" [The similarities between of El Capo and Pablo Escobar]. El Colombiano (in Spanish). 23 August 2009. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  78. ^ "Marcela Mar habla sobre su nuevo papel en El Capo" [Marcela Mar talks about her new role in El Capo]. El Colombiano (in Spanish). 13 September 2009. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  79. ^ "Angie Cepeda is Regina Parejo". 2 July 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  80. ^ "Angie Cepeda será Virginia Vallejo" [Angie Cepeda will be Virginia Vallejo]. Vanguardia (in Spanish). 11 December 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  81. ^ Thomas, Leah. "How Historically Accurate is Narcos". Bustle. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  82. ^ "The movie Loving Pablo". IMDb. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  83. ^ "Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz present 'Loving Pablo' at the Venice Film Festival". Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  84. ^ "Nominaciones a mejor actor y mejor actriz Premios Goya" [Nominations to best actor and best actress Goya Awards] (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 May 2018.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virginia_Vallejo&oldid=852398803"