Love, Betrayal And Revenge: Emma Coronel And Other Narco Ladies, Exposed

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat 

There are prejudices that lead to thinking that they are weak, but that can be capitalized to maintain a low profile, since they are not only accomplices, but scale to leadership positions

Journalist Anabel Hernández will launch a new book on drug trafficking where she will address the participation of women in a criminal world usually dominated by men.

Emma and the other narco ladies (Grijalbo, 2021) is the recent project of the investigative reporter in which it deals with the most intimate leadership of drug cartels. According to the editorial description, the author shows the deep impulses of drug lords to seek money and power at all costs, while mothers, wives and lovers intervene.

As an immediate reference, the journalist chose Emma Coronel Aispuro, currently imprisoned pending conviction, who sealed her fate by marrying Joaquín Guzmán Loera, El Chapo, former leader at the Sinaloa Cartel.

The model pleaded guilty to collaborating in her husband's organization last June, but opinions have been unleashed from those who see her as someone who was born immersed in the context of the narco.

In the charges she accepted, it is indicated that she had access to sensitive information, but more than a passive attitude, she was aware of her influence on the tasks she carried out. Not only did she receive orders, she also had meetings with senior criminals and bribed corrupt officials

Emma Coronel pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges last June

Anabel Hernández's publication explores what role other women such as Emma Coronel have played, including drug trafficking partners, a former Miss Universe, actresses, television hosts and recognized singers, both from the past and the current era. Well, the world of show business has constantly mixed with the sumptuousness of the narco traffickers.

As in the rest of other spheres in society, the phenomenon of drug trafficking is macho and has imposed rules that mold female intervention. Although the role of women has manifested itself in an accessory object of power in that criminal environment, there have also been cases in which they access command spaces.

"Through interviews with witnesses of the facts, she takes the reader to family reunions, parties and bedrooms of various drug traffickers where stories of love, buying and selling pleasure, incest, ambition, betrayal and revenge take place. A world hitherto unknown," the editors point out.

Women in drug trafficking is a line of research that gained interest in recent years, since previously only the profiles of ringleaders who came to power and ended up imprisoned, dead or missing were treated. Television series, for example, have not explored beyond the Queen of the South or Sandra Ávila Beltrán, the Queen of the Pacific.

After Colonel Aispuro's arrest in Washington, it was speculated that she would be released from prison by betraying other relevant operators, since some agents leaked that the native of Canelas, Durango, denied surrendering to the authorities. However, the alleged agreements have not stood out beyond published versions.

The role of women in the criminal world has not been so explored by analysts

This case revived the media focus that women have and have had in drug cartels, from subordinates and accomplices to bosses and intermediaries. Although they have also been victims of disappearances, kidnappings, trafficking and murders for thousands of cases.

Security analysts have indicated that, on the one hand, there are prejudices that lead to thinking that they are weak, lacking malice and unable to get involved in illicit activities, but all this is convenient for them to maintain a low profile or not raise too many suspicions.

However, they have access to inside information, in addition, they can go to spaces where the mobility of their husbands is limited. Sometimes, they challenge stereotypes and their influence is so crucial that they question the very conception of power within mafias.

Anabel Hernández has been in journalism for almost three decades and has returned with a piece on the same subject that has cost her to live under threat of death.

Since 2014 she has lived outside the country, because the group of corrupt agents whom she has exhibited with evidence and documents, have gradually been formally denounced in the United States and in Mexico; but a large part remain in power or are fugitives by the complicity of their circles in current security institutions.

Reporte Maya