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A portion of Pablo Escobar's former extravagant ranch – an emblem of the drug lord's enormous wealth and habitat to his infamous “cocaine hippos” – is being awarded to women affected by the country's armed conflict, announced the president.

Escobar, the nation's most notorious narco-trafficker and ex-leader of the powerful Medellín drug cartel, became one of the most affluent people in the world in the late 1980s, with estimates placing his assets at approximately 25 billion dollars.

The Lavish Estate: Escobar's Ranch

He spent some of that wealth in decking out his Hacienda Nápoles in northwest Antioquia. Along with populating it with vintage automobiles and rare creatures – zebras, giraffes, hopping marsupials and the hippos – he built an airstrip, multiple pools and a large-capacity bullfighting arena. Atop the entryway, Escobar also mounted a replica airplane, modelled on the one he reportedly used for his first cocaine shipment to the America.

Following the Demise

Subsequent to his demise in a gunfight on a roof with security forces in Medellín in 1993, his property was abandoned and fell into disrepair. It was later taken over by the authorities and contracted to regional leaders, who for a while transformed it as a tourist attraction.

Now, a portion of the land has been given a new use and granted to survivors of Colombia's long-standing armed conflict.

“We have initiated to recover the ranch for the victims,” the president posted online.

Distribution of Land

The government has stated that a sizable area of the territory has been granted to women farmers from the area. A senior official, chief of the state property institution, labeled the action “a historic victory for the women who persistently struggled”.

“It is tremendous pleasure to ultimately commemorate,” said one beneficiary, an awardee, in a video released by the state-run property agency. “I am overjoyed because at present there are women who have aspiration, who have land ownership.”

Land Disputes

Territorial disagreements have historically fueled turmoil in the country, with narcotics dealers and insurgents forcibly evicting rural residents to increase their land holdings and grow coca plants, the vegetation used to manufacture cocaine.

An expert, vice director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, stated that Escobar “purchased and took” the territory and sought to make it an “domain mostly independent from the country, with its personal regulations and even its distinct ecological system”.

Government Initiative

In May, Gustavo Petro, the country's first leftist president, put forward giving back a section to rural residents. “That property has countless casualties that it must be returned to the population,” he said, stating that the land's “legitimate holders” were the countryside residents.

Resistance and Demonstrations

Nevertheless certain community members and entrepreneurs resisted the proposal, arguing it jeopardized the area's financial stability; the theme park draws in excess of 1,000,000 tourists each year. A protest afterward included approximately 1,500 people block the main highway.

Implementation Underway

Regardless of the objections, the initiative has been put into action. “What president Petro did was to give back the territory, and also the self-respect, to those who had suffered total loss,” the analyst commented.

Persistent Problem

Despite the donation of the property, the expanding group of wild hippopotamuses roam on, trampling crops and attacking nearby villages – one remaining part of his criminal legacy that has remains unmanaged.