Sandra Ávila Beltrán

Sandra Ávila Beltrán
Born October 11, 1960
Baja California, Mexico
Other names La Reina del Pacífico (Queen of the Pacific)
Known for Possession of illegal firearms, money laundering
Relatives Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
Rafael Caro Quintero
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Ávila and the second or maternal family name is Beltrán.

Sandra Ávila Beltrán (born October 11, 1960) 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 was still held for possession of illegal weapons and money laundering, pending her extradition to the U.S.[4] On August 10, 2012, she was extradited to the U.S. to answer to criminal charges by the U.S. government.

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]

Biography

Ávila Beltrán was born in Baja California, Mexico, the daughter of María Luisa Beltrán Félix and Alfonso Ávila Quintero, a family member of Rafael Caro Quintero, the former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel.[6] Family connections have played a major role in her criminal career, and Ávila Beltrán was in fact a "third-generation" drug trafficker in her family.[7] Officials in Mexico say Ávila Beltrán is the niece of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo,[8] 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 Ávila 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.[8] She was married twice; both of her husbands were ex-police commanders who became drug traffickers,[9] and both of them were later killed by hired assassins.[8] 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.[8] 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.[10]

Arrest

Despite her high-profile lifestyle, Beltrán long avoided leaving police any evidence. In 2002, however, she unexpectedly contacted authorities for help when her teenage son was kidnapped for a $5 million USD 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 Ávila. She was arrested, along with Espinoza Ramírez, on September 28, 2007, in Mexico City.[11] She was charged with and convicted of laundering money for billions of dollars worth of drugs smuggled from Colombia to Mexico.[12]

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."[13] 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,[14] 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.

In March 2009, journalist Anderson Cooper interviewed Sandra Ávila for the television news magazine 60 Minutes.[15]

In January 2011 an investigation was launched after a doctor was allowed to enter the prison to give Beltrán a Botox injection treatment, a therapy that is not authorised for inmates.[16] The prison's director and hospital chief were relieved of their duties.[17] 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][18][19]

Extradition and deportation

In June 2012 several Mexican judges ruled out major obstacles to extradite Ávila Beltrán to the United States on cocaine trafficking charges that date back to 2001.[20] Originally, previous request seeking to extradite Ávila Beltrán had been denied twice by a panel and then by a judge, but Ávila Beltrán has to answer to the charges imposed by the United States for several cocaine shipments seized in Chicago.[21] On August 10, 2012, Ávila Beltrán was extradited to the United States and flown to Florida to face cocaine possession and trafficking charges.[22]

After fulfilling her jail time in the U.S., Ávila Beltrán deported from El Paso, Texas to Mexico City, where she was immediately arrested for money-laundering charges on August 20, 2013.[23] She was imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 4 federal prison in Tepic, Nayarit.[24]

Popularity

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."[14] 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.[25]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Accused female drug lord ordered held over for trial in Mexico". Associated Press. 2007-10-05. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Underworld Queenpin". Newsweek. October 10, 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
  3. ↑ "'La reina del Pacífico', una historia salpicada de fantasía y realidad" (in Spanish). Terra Networks. 2007-10-06. Retrieved 23 October 2007.
  4. ↑ SRE no descarta entregar a Avila (in Spanish) 10 August 2011
  5. ↑ No procede extradición de La Reina del Pacífico
  6. ↑ "El nombre de una reina inspirado en la literatura". CNNMéxico (in Spanish). 15 May 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "La Reina del Pacífico, tercera generación de una familia de narcos". El Universal. 2 October 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Tuckman, Jo (October 6, 2007). "Queen of the Pacific has Mexico hooked as she faces drug charges". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  9. ↑ "‘Queen of the Pacific’ drug smuggler arrested". MSNBC News (Associated Press). 29 September 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "Big-time female drug suspect seizes Mexico's imagination". Associated Press. 2007-10-05. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  11. ↑ "Mexico's "Queen Of The Pacific"". CBS News. 2009-03-06.
  12. ↑ "Glamorous Gangster: Alleged Drug Lord Captured". ABC News. October 16, 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  13. ↑ McKinley Jr, James C. (2007-10-12). "In Mexico, a Fugitive's Arrest Captivates the Cameras". The New York Times.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Arrested 'Drug Queen' enthralls Mexico". USA Today (Associated Press). 4 October 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  15. ↑ The War Next Door
  16. ↑ "'La Reina del Pacífico' tendrá que declarar por un tratamiento de botox". CNNMéxico (in Spanish). 2 February 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  17. ↑ Inquiry after Mexico prison inmate gets Botox injection
  18. ↑ "Reputed drug 'queen' sentenced for arms possession". The Washington Post (Associated Press). 6 February 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
  19. ↑ "Dictan año de prisión a "Reina del Pacífico"". El Universal (in Spanish). 7 February 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2011. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  20. ↑ Looft, Christopher (8 June 2012). "Mexico Judges To Allow 'Queen of the Pacific' Extradition". InSight Crime. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  21. ↑ "Mexican judges agree to extradite alleged drug queen to US". Fox News. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  22. ↑ BBC News (10 August 2012). "Top Mexican 'drug queen' Sandra Avila extradited to the US". BBC News. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  23. ↑ Gomez Licon, Adriana (20 August 2013). "Sandra Avila Beltran, 'Queen Of The Pacific' Drug Trafficker, Returns To Mexico From U.S.". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  24. ↑ "Sandra Ávila Beltrán ingresó a penal de Tepic, Nayarit". Univision (in Spanish). 20 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  25. ↑ "Book details life of alleged Mexican drug queen". Daily News (New York). 2008-09-04.