After Emma Coronel’s Arrest: How The Drug Dealers Work

The American indictment that led to the recent arrest of the wife of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán he bluntly describes his supposed degree of involvement in the capo’s criminal activities. The legal complaint against Emma Coronel, who faces international drug trafficking charges, affirms that the young had full knowledge of Sinaloa cartel operations run by her husband and allegedly involved in some of her operations.

“Coronel understood that the drug proceeds he was controlling during his marriage to Guzmán came from these expeditions. (drugs in the United States). From 2012 to 2014, he transmitted messages on behalf of Guzmán to promote drug trafficking activities while trying to avoid his capture by Mexican authorities, ”the document said.

The 31-year-old is even accused of conspiring to get El Chapo to escape a prison in Mexico by paying a millionaire bribe to officials before he was finally extradited to New York and sentenced to life in prison. It will be justice that will determine the veracity of this investigation in which anonymous witnesses and cooperating letters are cited, but judging by the charges, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seems to be clear that Colonel she was no stranger to the “El Chapo” business.

As supposedly in your case, the presence of women in drug trafficking and other organized crime activities grew up in recent years in Mexico and, with him, their roles also varied.

“The role of women in general was increasing in these organizations. Coronel also comes from a family of drug traffickers and, because of his age, he is not a person who could have been passive “in the face of what was going on around him, he assured. BBC Mundo Alberto Islas, security expert.

Precisely because of this conditioning environment and because of the characteristics of a completely male dominated world, understanding the reasons why women get involved in it it’s much more complex than to associate it with a simple and unique desire for power and money.

According to the 2020 report “Women and Organized Crime in Latin America: More Than Victims or Perpetrators”, women “not only exercise a multiplicity of roles, but also fluctuate fluidly between conditions. victims and objects and that of the protagonists and active subjects of criminal acts ”.

However, the report from the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia and InSight Crime identifies that the majority of women in these groups assume criminal roles of low responsibility that male leaders delegate to them. These roles range from working in drug cultures, as “mules” to transporting substances, in organizing logistics and finance or in micro-trafficking or “drug trafficking”, among others.

However, and although they constitute a clear minority, the study underlines that there are also women “who they exercise different roles of their own free will, which can be leading roles and sometimes leadership ”.

In the case of Mexico, one of the most recognized names is that of Enedina Arellano Felix, who at the time, the Mexican authorities considered that the only woman at the head of a drug trafficking organization was leader of the Tijuana cartel. Known as “The boss” or “The narcomami”, came to this position after nearly all of his male siblings, founders of the cartel, lost their lives or were captured by the authorities. Another very popular case is that of Sandra Ávila Beltrán or “Queen of the Pacific”, who was charged whenor was arrested in 2007 for playing a key role in the operations of the Sinaloa cartel.

However, she has always denied having had any influence on drug trafficking and some believe that, more for her activities, she actually gained more fame by believing that she inspired the novel “The Queen of the South”, somehow. thing that its author Arturo Pérez-Reverte refused. It is also Leticia Rodriguez Lara, known as “The queen of the Riviera Maya”, which controlled this tourist area and fought to defend its market against the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel of “El Mencho”.

THE Ignacia Jasso, “La Nacha”, one of the pioneering women of drug trafficking in Mexico, dedicating herself to drug trafficking in the state of Chihuahua since 1930.

“It is true that, and probably stems from the evolution of gender equality in recent years, there is an empowerment ‘for the worse’ of women taking leadership in criminal structures” in small and medium gangs. , he explained BBC Mundo Sandra Romandía, Mexican journalist specializing in drug trafficking issues.

However, the expert pointed out that in a large number of cases there is a fundamental factor in understanding the status of these women in organized crime: your family or romantic relationships. Thus, many wives, mothers or daughters have been distinguished for having been involved in the affairs of cartel leaders or even having assumed it after their death or arrest, like Enedina Arellano.

We saw it for example shortly before the arrest of the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, José Antonio Yépez “El Marro”, when his mother, sister and cousin were also arrested as suspected financial operators of the criminal group, but were released after exposing torture. In many occasions, the girlfriends or wives of leaders end up becoming subordinate victims to men by being used, for example, to help them commit crimes.

According to the report of Insightful crime, the incarceration of women in Latin America for crimes related to organized crime, in particular drug trafficking, has increased over the past decade. In Mexico, the overall female prison population increased by 56% between 2010 and 2015, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography compiled by the report. “It is documented that not all, but many of the women serving time for drug offenses, they do it out of loyalty to their partners or through threats from them“, Underlined Romandie.

According to the expert, many of these situations stem from a macho schema in which women are afraid to say no, which has more to do with their own gender value structure “and not so much as their desire for power. “. in this enterprise. “And, in many cases, it’s nothing more than inertia to follow the family business. because that’s what the husband left them, and that’s what they know how to do ”, added the co-author of the book “Narco CDMX”.

According to data from the 911 emergency service in Mexico last August, about 60% of murders of women so far in 2020 are linked to organized crime.

But that doesn’t mean that all women participate. Sometimes, again, they become a kind of collateral victims of the illicit activities of their partners. “Some are killed simply because they are related or are the romantic partner of someone from the opposite group. Some also use women’s bodies to send threatening messages to their rivals, ”the researcher told BBC Mundo. Maria Salguero.

Salguero, creator of the Map of Feminicides in Mexico in which she compiled for years all those recorded in the country, asserts that these deaths linked to organized crime were also in pandemic, which showed that “all women they were murdered by their partners in detention ”.

The expert does not deny that there are women directly involved in drug trafficking, but even in these cases, she warns that many times there are causes related to their gender that explain their decision.

“There are almost always stories of inequality behind them. As drug dealers, they can earn about a dollar for every package they sell. They are vulnerable women who sometimes have to provide for the needs of the family, they can’t find work… and they get involved in these groups, often also motivated by the environment, ”he explained.

The reality of many of these women described by experts is therefore far from the image of luxury or glamor shown by certain films or television series on the “queens of drug trafficking”.

The concept of narcoculture It is he who extols the violence of the drug trafficker and all the money earned from his criminal enterprise, while his wives are often linked to the world of organized crime. almost like objects that men use to display their power and success. These women, commonly called “buchonas”, boast of being the partner of a criminal leader and luxury life whether it allows them to wear jewelry, luxury cars or surgery to show off sculptural bodies.

This culture of wasting and valuing money is more common among romantic couples in the middle and lower ranks of criminal groups.

But it is striking that Coronel, being the wife of one of the world’s most wanted drug lords, like “El Chapo”, had such a media and public presence. In recent months, he’s promoted businesses to his nearly half a million Instagram followers. She tried to create a luxury clothing and accessories brand with her husband’s name on it and even appeared on a TV show focusing on the lives of people or family members who were linked at one point with posters.

“His attitude and his lack of discretion were difficult and, without a doubt, with this importance in the media I was crossing red lines in terms of tolerance authorities, ”he said. BBC Mundo Javier Oliva, security analyst and expert from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of UNAM. The fact that women in organized crime are not yet so well known is undoubtedly due to the fact that their presence is still anecdotal compared to men. But Romandie predicts changes.

“There is still no female leadership that brings the authorities under control. But we’ll probably start to see it in the next few years, for the important role that some play in smaller groups, ”he said.

“They still didn’t have very obvious media exposure to create a character or a legend around them… but that will eventually happen, ”the journalist concluded.

BBC Mundo