Argentina charges Pablo Escobar's widow and son with money laundering

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine judge charged the widow and son of the late Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar with money laundering on Tuesday, according to the judicial system's news service.

Federal judge Nestor Barral accused Escobar's ex-wife, Maria Isabel Santos Caballero, and his son, Juan Sebastian Marroquin Santos, who both live in Argentina, of laundering money obtained through drug trafficking. They will remain free while the case proceeds, though some of their assets were frozen.

Mauricio "Chicho" Serna Valencia, a former Colombian soccer player who played for Buenos Aires club Boca Juniors, was also charged.

Escobar, the head of the Medellin cartel and Colombia's best-known drug lord, died during a police operation in 1993.

(Reporting by Walter Bianchi; Writing by Luc Cohen, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)