Plan to give Pablo Escobar’s former estate to farmers sparks backlash

In the 1980s, Hacienda Nápoles became synonymous with the opulence of Pablo Escobar, Colombia’s most notorious drug lord and criminal. The vast estate, located in the Antioquia municipality of Puerto Triunfo, was the luxurious retreat of the capo. After his death in 1993, it was abandoned and passed into the hands of the authorities. In 2007, it was leased to private individuals and transformed into the Hacienda Nápoles Theme Park, now the main tourist attraction in the area.

In recent weeks, it has again drawn attention due to a proposal by Colombian President Gustavo Petro: to give the land currently occupied by the park to rural farmers who were victims of violence. Residents and business owners of Puerto Triunfo have opposed this, protesting what they see as a threat to the local economy.

The president announced the plan on May 23, during a speech in the nearby city of Barrancabermeja, amid applause. “I want [...] above all, for that hacienda to return to the hands of the rural farmers,” said Petro, addressing Felipe Harman, director of Colombia’s National Land Agency (ANT). “It is of public utility, because so many animals were brought into the zoo that it is a health problem, a danger to society. [...] That hacienda has so many deaths that it must be returned to the people. [...] What is at stake in the Magdalena Medio region is returning the land to its genuine owners, which are the rural farmers.”

The property in question is enormous: 1,600 hectares with direct access from the highway between Medellín and Bogotá, almost halfway between Colombia’s two largest cities. It is owned by the municipality of Puerto Triunfo, which granted a concession to the park’s administrators. Days after the president’s announcement in Barrancabermeja, Harman said that a review process was underway to revoke the transfer of the property made by the Special Assets Society (SAE) to Puerto Triunfo —which in fact received the land in two stages: 50% in 2005 from the now-defunct National Narcotics Directorate, and the other 50% in July 2022 from the SAE.

For now, like many of the president’s proposals, there are few details about the plan. Beyond the announcement, Petro has not specified how the government intends to take control of the estate and transfer it to the rural farmers. Nor has he clarified how they will deal with the current tenants, who have invested millions to develop the park and whose lease contracts are still valid. The ANT, for its part, has not made any comment regarding the 2021 report, in which it indicated that the hacienda’s land is not suitable for agrarian reform projects.

Aside from legal considerations, the community’s opposition to Petro’s plan stems from another obvious reason: all tourism in this area of the Magdalena Medio region gravitates around the Hacienda Nápoles Theme Park. Within the property, there is not only the zoo, the water park, and hotels, but also several restaurants. Thanks to the park, there are more hotels and businesses in the nearby village of Doradal, and dozens of mototaxi drivers work between that population and the park, transporting tourists.

The park’s success is evident: in 2024 it hosted the summit of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA). Its managers estimate that over a million people will visit this year. A potential closure would not only affect the park’s operators, but also all local businesses that serve its visitors.

The risk of losing this attraction because of the government project sparked a protest on June 4, when about 1,500 people blocked the Medellín-Bogotá highway. Dubay Daza, a tour operator from Puerto Triunfo, told Blu Radio in an interview that President Petro’s stance is based on “ignorance of the territory,” since, as he explained, the municipality — historically marked by violence and paramilitary control — has been revitalized in large part thanks to the tourism generated by the theme park over its 18 years of operation. He also said many local merchants who now depend on tourism for their income were once victims of the armed conflict.

Petro criticized those who took part in the protest and asked why “seeking justice for rural farmers” would spark a demonstration, but no protests occurred when “the mafia killed tens of thousands of rural farmers in Magdalena Medio.” Daza clarified in his interview that the opposition to the president’s proposal is not about giving land to these victims, but rather because it could harm the economic epicenter of the region’s tourism industry.

Escobar’s legacy

Although there is an effort to dissociate the park from Pablo Escobar, tourists still come partly attracted to visit the hacienda that belonged to the capo and still bears its original name. In that hot and extremely humid area by the Magdalena River, Escobar built his retreat, which over time became a reflection of his rise and ultimate fall. At the height of his power in the 1980s, the hacienda was home to giraffes, crocodiles, and hippos that the drug lord brought from Africa. It featured a bullring, race cars, dozens of swimming pools, buildings with luxurious rooms, a runway, and a heliport. It was also the meeting place for Escobar and his Medellín cartel partners like Carlos Lehder and Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha. It was the place where, with criminal money, he made all his fantasies come true.

During Escobar’s life, the hacienda’s entrance was striking: a several-meter-high white arch with blue letters displaying the property’s name, topped by a small airplane — the very plane with which the drug lord made his first cocaine shipment to the United States. After Escobar’s death, the arch was demolished, though today, inside the theme park, a scaled replica serves as the entrance to a museum exhibiting photographs, texts, and objects that explain — in Spanish and English — the deadly impact the drug trafficker’s battle against extradition had on Colombia — a conflict marked by bombs, kidnappings, and murders.

Decades later, the wounds and memory of that era of unrestrained violence remain very visible. Escobar’s legacy continues to loom large, as seen in Petro’s plan to hand over hacienda, as well as other recent decisions against so-called narcotours, such as the 2019 demolition of the Mónaco building — which was Escobar and his family’s home in Medellín and a target of attacks by his enemies — or the 2023 demolition of the Pablo Escobar House Museum, also in Medellín and run by Roberto, Escobar’s brother. Regardless of whether the government’s plan is carried out, the fact remains that Escobar’s criminal legacy continues to surface in public debates in Colombia.

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