Sofía Vergara, born in Barranquilla, witnessed one of the darkest periods in Colombia. The decades of the 70s, 80s and 90s, in which drug trafficking dominated the country with an iron fist, where crimes and exchanges of drugs and money were the order of the day in disproportionate quantities. An experience that she will bring to the screens starting January 25, when Griselda premieres on Netflix, the series based on the drug boss whom Pablo Escobar feared.
The actress has been the first guest of El Hormiguero in 2024, with the intention of promoting the series. Her interview with Pablo Motos has been viral in different aspects, including the constant exchanges of jokes that have lit up social networks. However, one of the most serious and tension-free moments of the program occurred when Vergara was able to explain, first-hand, what it was like to live in the country during those years.
“My brother unfortunately was part of that business, my brother was killed in ’96 in Colombia,” the interpreter confessed. “I had to bring my whole family to Miami. It was a very difficult time in Colombia, and that was why Griselda caught my attention so much, because we all knew the drug trafficker, the drug trafficking business, how it works, we have seen movies, we have seen television series, but we had never seen him. through the eyes of a woman,” he continued.
Griselda Blanco, the woman Vergara plays in the series, was known as The Godmother of Cocaine and even as The Black Widow, as she was linked to the deaths of two of her three husbands. Different sources link her to the feared Medellín cartel, led by Pablo Escobar himself, and she was responsible for spreading cocaine trafficking through Miami in the 70s and 80s. Blanco was murdered in Medellín in 2012, shot by a motorcyclist, a method similar to the one she introduced in Miami.
“It struck me that a woman could become so bad, and could do so many things and compete in such a difficult world. Because I lived through drug trafficking, I know what drug trafficking is,” she explained, questioning how Griselda came to live in this dark environment. Likewise, she pointed out an important detail about her character: it took them so long to find her because they were looking for a man, and they did not expect to find a woman.
The interview also produced moments and jokes that alerted X (Twitter) users, including Pablo Motos questioning Vergara’s English accent and making a mistake when trying to replicate Pablo Escobar’s quote that appears in the first episode. “Well, her name isn’t really Griselda Marcos. Her name is Griselda Blanco, but… Like him, she watched the entire series. He knew she was going to fuck you. She simply thought you were a liar,” Vergara responded.
