Sandra Ávila Beltrán
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Sandra Ávila Beltrán (b. 1960, Baja California)[1] is a Mexican drug cartel leader, dubbed "La Reina del Pacífico" (the Queen of the Pacific) by the media.[2] She currently faces charges of organized crime, money laundering and conspiracy to traffic drugs.[2]
She was born to a family of smugglers in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Her uncle is Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, known as the godfather of Mexican drug smuggling.[3] She has reportedly had affairs with several well-known drug barons in her youth.[3]
She was married twice, and both of her husbands were ex-police commanders who became traffickers. Both of them were later killed by hired assassins.[3] The police attribute her rise to power in the drug world primarily to her most recent relationship with Juan Diego Espinoza Ramírez, alias "El Tigre" (the Tiger), who is said to be an important figure in the Colombian Norte del Valle cartel.[3] Ávila Beltrán lived unnoticed in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and Hermosillo, Sonora, until the police found more than 9 tons of cocaine on a ship in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, Colima, in 2001 and tracked the shipment to her and her lover Espinoza Ramírez.[4] Ávila Beltrán was arrested, along with Espinoza Ramírez, on September 28, 2007.
She has a folk ballad by Los Tucanes de Tijuana that pays homage to her as "a top lady who is a key part of the business."[4]
In a later tape of her being questioned by the police, she describes herself as a housewife who earns a little money on the side “selling clothes, houses.” Asked why she had been arrested, she responds with nonchalance: “Because of an extradition order to the United States.”
Though some local press reports said the federal case against her was weak, a judge last week ordered her arrested. She responded with her trademark insouciance at a hearing where charges related to the Macel shipment were recited for the record. “I already know them by heart,” she noted.
Her life behind bars at the Santa Martha Acatitla women’s prison in the capital has apparently not been to her liking. She filed a complaint with a Mexico City human rights commission, saying her cell had insects, which she referred to as “noxious fauna.” She also said the ban on bringing in food from restaurants violated her rights.
[edit] References
- ^ "'La reina del Pacífico', una historia salpicada de fantasía y realidad", Terra Networks, 2007-10-06. Retrieved on 2007-10-23. (Spanish)
- ^ a b "Accused female drug lord ordered held over for trial in Mexico", Associated Press, 2007-10-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
- ^ a b c d "Queen of the Pacific has Mexico hooked as she faces drug charges", The Guardian, October 6, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
- ^ a b "Big-time female drug suspect seizes Mexico's imagination", Associated Press, 2007-10-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
