Colombia has handed over a chunk of deceased drug lord Pablo Escobar’s ranch, famous for its “cocaine” hippos, to women caught up in the country’s armed conflict, President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday.

Escobar, once head of the powerful Medellin Cartel, was one of the richest men on the planet in the late 1980s, with Forbes magazine estimating his fortune at $25 billion.

His lavish 4,000-hectare Hacienda Napoles estate in northwest Antioquia department, which he filled with exotic animals, including hippos, became a symbol of his power and wealth.

After he was shot dead by police in 1993, the state took over the estate and leased it to local authorities, who turned it into a successful theme park, complete with a hotel and zoo.

Petro said that part of the estate had now been handed ov

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