Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Sometimes looks can be really deceiving…..
she was around high school age when she became…..
an assasin, she lived six years on the run
every Turd War would result in a massacre.
when we talk about narcos we usually think of people like
Pablo Escobar
or El Chapo
Ruthless men surrounded by a fleet of loyal agressive soldiers.
but what if i told you some of the most dangerous Narcos in South America were actually women. i’m talking of the women who stood by dangerous drug barons through their vmost volatile moments. the once they hold divisions of the drug trail and the ones who are ruthless enough to overthrow and run the cartels themshelves.
If you’re suprised that’s fair .after all , it’s men who are usually associated with war.Zainab Salab said of women.
Zainab Salba:“like life, peace begins with women . we are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboation acroos conflict divides.
but was happens when women take arms, let’s look at some of the most dangerous female Narcos in history.
This is la Catrina or maria Guadalupe or maria Guadalupe lopez Esquivel.
she led a notorious hit squad that left a bloodbath behind everywhere they went.
maria had humble beginnings , she was a daughter of a rancher and a housewife.she grew up in the city of tepalcatepec,but she knew she didn’t wanted to stay there for too long.
she hated school and she never wanted to pursue a regular life.
2017
she ran off from home and started living witn a member of the Jalisco new generation cartel in aguilia.
maria had dallen in love with miguel fernandez who was a high-ranking narcotics baron.
but maria didn’t join the cartel out of love of a man.
she did so out of love for fame and money. within months she climbed up the cartel ranks
and starting making the the big bucks and soon as she did so
she started showing it on social media too.
before long ,she took the name la catrina
a hats off to the famous day of the dead festival figure .
la catrina became a part of a gang of securius
young pretty women soldiers who used their beauty and innocent looks to lure and kill memberes from the rival gangs.
but as maria wanted to continued climbing the ranks, she soon became the leader of her team, then she came became the commander of a hit squad.
she and her squad were responsible for several assasinations and kidnapping .
OCTOBER 2012
Mexican police were executing a warrant at a home,when they were ambushed by la catrina Squad.
it was a massacre
after they killed 13 officers and injured many others
The squad set two police cars on fire.
the message was clear, they wanted war with the police
and la catrina felt invincible.
but the officers heard her voice when she was giving orders to kill .
then they knew she was responsible for the attack and they knew they had to get to her.
JANUARY 10th,2020
the national guard received a tip about la catrina’s location.
they didn’t waste any time ,the officers surrounded the squad safe house.and a violent shootout ensued.
exept this time it was the squad that took the hit.
but la catrina had been shot in the jugular
she was taken to the helicopter while all her men were put down on their knewws and cuffed.
but age 21 maria lopez died inside the helicopter after she lost a lot of blood
easy come, easy go
This is sandra avia beltran,she led a life field of crime and tumultuous relationships and it all cullminated with one huge move that brought her down.
sandra didn’t ‘really have a chance at a normal life.
she was practically born into the sinaloa cartel ,
her mother’s family were notorious heroine smugglers.
her father, alfonso avila Quintero was the brother of the Guadalajara cartel leader.
rafael caro Quintero
sandra grew up in the 1960s watching cold -blooded men do transactions and tough negotiaitons
and resort of violence whenever words weren’t convincing enoug.
this was the language she knewfrom a very young age.
by 13 she was her dad’s official money counter. and at the same age she witnessed a masive shootout.
sandra went on to study journalism at a prestigious university but her colleages remember her as a very withdrawn ,always suspecting person , however, this was just her school peresona.
when she was 21 , sandra started dating amando carrillo fuentes
the boss of the jurez cartel.
around the same time , s he became a prominent figure in sinaloa cartel .
overseeing a legal substance shipments to the U.S.
her relationsip with fuentes didn’t last a long time…but she would have many more.
and her two marriages would be more tactical then romantic.
but her husbands were ex- police commanders
turned traffickers.
these men knew the inside and outside of the mexican police world and their insights helped her dodge the law.
and become a huge figure when it came to substance smuggling.
ironically both of her husbands were stabbed to death by hired assassins .
another one of her rumored lovers was El chapo himself.
no one knows just how romantic their relationship was but one thing for certain, they were once very close
and sandra was head of public relations for the sinaloa cartel.
then sandra had yet another tumultuous affair. Juan espinoza ramirez also called the tiger.
the tiger had strong connections to the norte del valle cartel in columbia, this was just the open door she needed
through sandra clombian and mexican cartels were now united.
and she was making more money for sinaloa then ever before.
2001
the U.S seized a tuna fishing boat transporting nine tons of white snow.
imagine how many more actually came into the country before the DEA finally caught on to them.
after this incident ,sandra got her nickname
“the Queen of the pacific”
she also got hundreds officers on her tail ,working hard to arrest her and bring down the sinaloa cartel.
she lived six years on the run and suffered the kidnapping ofher son as a result of her violent means of negotiation
finally in 2007 she was arrested.
when the officer asked her what business she was in she said.
she said clothing even though she was convicted and sent to prison for life.
she remained adamant that she shouldn’t be there .
then she complained about insects in her cell . and arranged for prime conditions :
food.
alcohol
and cigarettes to her liking.
when she as denied resturant made food ,she claimed her basic rights were being violated
2015
she was released and is now living in Guadalajara
This is Jocelyn Alejandro Nino, she was a young cartel assassin with a horroring story
jocelyn’s life began many others, she was born 1990’s to a relatively poor family in the tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico
it’s unclear wether her family has ties to the local cartels or wheter their financial situation pushed her towards the illegal side of work.
but from a very young age jocelyn became an active member of Gulf cartel
in fact she was around high school age when she became an assassin for them .
this is around the time she earned her nickname la flaca.
in english this means ” the skinny one “
as you can see she a quite a tiny person compared to the huge firearm she’s was holding.
but in mexican tradition” la flaca” is also a femal skeleton saint our lady of holy death.
who was sometimes depicted in art work for the popular day of the dead festival.
you might think it sounds pretty badass to be an assassin at age 18 but there’s nothing cool about it .
first of all la flaca took many lives under the instruction of her even more ruthless bosses.second of all , life in the cartel is not that glorious
it’s not known exactly how la flaca climbed ranks and made it to assassin so soon.
but most girls like her young petite girls from improverished backgrounds started out by being lookouts for the gang or even illegal street workers
they get trerated and misstrerated in every way imaginable before they gain some authorities and even then it’s not all fame and money.
this all became all to clear in january 2015
on january 5th thatyear someone leaked this picture of la flaca
to valor por tamaulipas a citizen journalist page, meant specifically for organized crime leaks .
the picture quickly made it to facebook and twitter.people was fascinated by this small young women with a friendly smile.
it stood in pretty stark contrast to her bulletproff vest and big fire arm.
who was she? was she a big shot in the gang?or just a foot soldier?
another thing that stood out and earned this photo a lot of attention was its background
indeed la flaca’s room didn’t look anything like the luxurious village we see in narcos . Is this the true reality of cartel living.is it really worth the risk of loosing your life and is it really worth taking a life.
if you’re gonna live in poverty anyway.
it seams like only the very few top dogs get to live luxuriously,while their employees only ruin their lives for them .
la flacas picture was a window into the tragic reality of mexcan cartels
the photo got thousands of likes online but this was beginning of the end for jocelyn.
she was a member of the los ciclonas gang
led by angel eduardo aka Ciclone 7.
at thtime they were at war with another gang . los metros. by leaking photos of ciclonas members los metros waekened the cartel and exposed this people.
making them easy targets for police as well as the rival gangs.
and la flaca was indeed avery easy target ,ciclone 7 sent her to fight los metros from Rio Bravo which was los metros territory,every day there was a death sentence for her and eventually she met a truly gruesome end.
April 13th 2015
police officers discovered her dismembered body inside a freezer in a parking lot and madame morose tamaulipas. throughout the day the officers kept finding more body pieces scattered across town.
some were inside plastic bags.
la flaca was only identified thanks to her distinctive tattoo she’d wrotten Nino , on her arm.this was her family name but it also meant child . she really was a child when she died. somewhere between her late teens and early 20s
and to make things even more tragic the autopsy confirmed that she also had been tortured frst
as los metros were trying to get information about los ciclonas other members.
la flaca was killed together with another woman and a man
and a final gruesome act los metros took pictures of their dismembered bodies
and posted them on social media with caption.
violance only leads to violence and the mexican drug cartels are no peaceful place.
this is melissa margarita calderon ojeda.
aka ” la china ” ,che was the commander ofa cartel army
that was so violent it shocked her soldiers ,her male colleagues and her boyfriends.
melissa Ojeda was born august 12, 1984 in Mexico, by the time she was 20 she had already decided her fate.
she was going to ba a cartel leader and she was going to do whatever she needed to get there.
melissa joined the Sinaloa Cartel back in 2oo5
more precisely the DAMASO CARTEL , a subdivision of the sinaloa .
she was ruthless and ambitious and she didn’t care that most of the criminals around her were men.she could be just as aggressive and when it came in handy she also used her feminin charm as a way to climb up the ranks
by 2008 la china was commander of the armed unit.
and while she was commander the rate of crime in the area went up several times. she had a thirst for blood , that was shocking even to the violent criminals in her gang.she would kill cops .kidnap people for extortion and dismember enemies from rival gangs.imagine that.
la china and her unit was responsible for at leas 178 deaths
whenever her men would have a successful mission leading bodies behind that is.
she would reward them with big bags of white powder
2014
things took a turn for the worse
when damaso cartel , El Grande killed melissas boyfriend ,eric. this hit was meant as a message to melissa, her time as army commander was over.
you might be excused for thinking that this was the cold shower she needed. perhaps she thought she’d better throw away her gun and return home .but violence is the only language ,cartel members understand
now melissa was now certain she wanted blood for blood.
she rallied 300 cartel soldier to her side and started a new cartel. las fuertas.
together with her brand new boyfriend hector pedro camareno gomez.he called himself El chino.
to go hand in hand witch la china.
even el chino would would find his girlfriend too violent.imagine la china was a violent bloodthirsty commander during peaceful war times how was she after a waged war against a muscle.
every turf war would result in a massacre and as the police were now on her tail ,she would keep moving from town to town.
one day she sent one of her sicarios to get a new car for another journey.he arranged for a couple of vendors to deliver the car to melissa .
when they did ,she killed them.just to avoid paying for the car. the sicario was shocked and threatened la china to go to the police.
that’s when shecut off his forearms , shot him in the head and buried him in her usual mass grave. this was her own man.
el chino saw this and he couldn’t take her violence anymore ,imagine being too violent for a cartel member
El chino fled and ran straight to the police .only they could give him protection against la china and her bloody cartel.
and since he wanted to stay alive ,he also tipped the police about melissa’s location
september 20th 2015
la china was arrested at the cabo san lucas international airport , she was just trying to flee the state.
she will spend the rest of her life in prison
This is ” la jefa” la jefa means the boss.
and for the mexican cartel world it really seams that Enedina arellano felix is the boss.
Enedina was born on april 12, 1961 in sinaloa into a family of traffickers
and perhaps unsuprisingly her relatives became her role models and enedina’s older brother worked for their uncle
notorious drug lord and guadaljara cartel boss miguel angel felix gallardo
Enedina got a bachelor’s degree in accounting, but she didn’t use this to exit the carel life
infact she used it to their advantage and Enedina advosed her six brothers and helped them with money laundering.As a Tijuana cartel’s financial advisor
1989
the Guadalajara cartel was destroyed and most of its members were arrested or killed. so a few positions of power were up for grabs
Enedina started a heated relationship with armando lopez
who was very close friends with El chapo .
but two of Enedina’s older brothers assassinated armando as they didn’t agree with their relationship. yeah,that’s what you do if you don’t lile your sisters boyfriend.
but this only motivated Enedina to rise to the top of the cartel and show her brothers whos boss
so when El chuy the cartel’s financial boss died in 2000 she took over his position, eventually she gain upper hand over her brothers.
one of them el diardo was arrested in 2008, this is when she became the leader of the Tijuana but Enedina or la jefa is very different from all the women we discussed today.
she very much embodies sainab salbi quote , which is pretty strange for a cartel boss .
since the 1990s Enedina has been known for her rational methodical approaches to business and for her peaceful negotiations,she never swears and she never orders assassinations and her focus is on bribes and illegal substance trade sure….
she’s not exactly but her quite discreet aproach has saved her skin and her sons , all this years.
she remains in the shadows and she’s not a priority for the DEA or the mexican authorities
even though she is la jefa and leads one of the biggest mexican cartels to this day.