| Sandra Ávila Beltrán | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 Baja California, Mexico |
| Alias(es) | La Reina del Pacífico (Queen of the Pacific) |
| Charge(s) | Possession of illegal firearms, money laundering |
| Status | In prison |
Sandra Ávila Beltrán (b. 1960, Baja California, Mexico) is a Mexican drug cartel leader, dubbed "La Reina del Pacífico" (The Queen of the Pacific) by the media.[1][2][3] She was arrested on September 28, 2007 and charged with organized crime and conspiracy to traffic drugs;[1] Some charges were later dropped but she is still being held for possession of illegal weapons and money laundering, pending her extradition to the U.S.[4]
Mexican and U.S. officials consider she was an important link between the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and the Colombian Norte del Valle Cartel.[5]
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Family connections have played a major role in her criminal career. Officials in Mexico say Avila Beltrán is the niece of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo,[6] the onetime godfather of the Mexican drug trade who is serving a 40-year sentence for the 1984 murder of Enrique Camarena, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent. Her great uncle Juan José Quintero Payán was extradited to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. On her mother's side, the Beltráns got involved in heroin smuggling in the 1970s and later diversified into cocaine. DEA officials state that Avila Beltrán never shrank from employing the violence that comes with the turf and that "she used the typical intimidation tactics of Mexican organizations."
She reportedly had affairs with several well-known drug barons in her youth.[6] She was married twice; both of her husbands were ex-police commanders who became drug traffickers,[7] and both of them were later killed by hired assassins.[6] The police attribute her rise to power in the drug world primarily to her most recent relationship with Juan Diego Espinoza Ramírez, alias The Tiger, who is said to be an important figure in the Colombian Norte del Valle cartel.[6] Ávila Beltrán lived 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.[8]
Despite her high-profile lifestyle, Beltran long avoided leaving police any evidence. In 2002, however, she unexpectedly contacted authorities for help when her teenage son was kidnapped for a USD 5 million ransom. She eventually got her son back, but not without raising suspicions that launched an investigation. It took more than four years and 30 federal agents to close in and finally arrest Avila. She was arrested, along with Espinoza Ramírez, on September 28, 2007, in Mexico City.[9] She was charged with and convicted of laundering money for billions of dollars worth of drugs smuggled from Colombia to Mexico.[10]
In a tape of her police interrogation, she describes herself as a housewife who earns a little money on the side "selling clothes and renting houses." When asked why she had been arrested, she responded, "Because of an extradition order to the United States."[11] Her life behind bars at the Santa Martha Acatitla women’s prison in Mexico City has apparently not been to her liking as she filed a complaint with a Mexico City human rights commission,[12] 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 human rights.
On March 2009, journalist Anderson Cooper interviewed Sandra Avila for the television news magazine 60 Minutes.[13]
In January 2011 an investigation was launched after a doctor was allowed to enter the prison to give Beltran a Botox injection treatment, a therapy that is not authorised for inmates. The prison's director and hospital chief were relieved of their duties.[14] Although all of the drug charges were dropped in early 2011, she remains in jail for possession of illegal weapons, and is undergoing extradition proceedings to the United States for drug trafficking.[2][15][16]
Los Tucanes de Tijuana wrote a folk ballad that pays homage to Sandra Ávila as "a top lady who is a key part of the business."[12] She also published a book, The Queen of the Pacific: Time to Talk, based on a series of prison interviews she did with Mexican journalist Julio Scherer.[17]
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