Is Griselda Based on a True Story?

Sofia Vergara returns to television for the Netflix original crime miniseries Griselda, playing Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco. However, while Blanco was a major figure in the United States war on drugs in the ‘80s, there are lingering questions if the miniseries is based on a true story.

Any biopic is going to take creative license with real-life accounts, either to condense the story or make it more palatable to wider audiences. Griselda certainly deviates from actual events, though how much of the miniseries is historically accurate may surprise viewers. Here’s how much of Griselda is based on real events.

Is Griselda Based on a True Story?

As in the show, the real-life Griselda Blanco did seize her second husband Alberto Bravo’s flourishing drug empire in the ‘70s. earning her the title “the Cocaine Grandmother.” Blanco quickly gained a reputation as one of the most violent drug lords in South America, ordering hits throughout the Americas and personally killing some of her rivals and threats to her empire. Many of the major characters that appear in Griselda are based on real people, albeit sometimes with their names changed.

Griselda distances itself from the real-life accounts of Blanco’s rise and fall, however, by sympathising with Blanco, positioning her as someone who opposes the patriarchy to seize what she believes is rightfully hers and commits heinous acts as a means to protect, support, and uplift her family, both biological and surrogate. The series presents a nuanced and romanticized perspective on Blanco’s criminal activities, including scenes where she questions the lengths she’s gone to maintain power. It also includes a backstory of Blanco working as a sex worker before eventually marrying her second husband, catapulting herself into the dangerous drug trade.

Not much of Blanco’s actual past has been fully confirmed, with her past as a sex worker speculative and denied by Blanco herself. Blanco reputedly killed her first victim when she was still just a child herself, while her stance on killing is purely conjecture developed by the miniseries. However, many of the more salacious details in Griselda are reportedly true, including the sex parties her organization put together, underscoring that sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction.