Women in the narco infantry

Víctor Ronquillo, special correspondent, BBC Mundo

A singer of narcocorridos and distinguished member of the Mexican narco aristocracy, Sandra Ávila Beltrán, known as the "Queen of the Pacific" uncovers the fact that more and more women are becoming involved in drug trafficking:

Ávila Beltrán, known as the “Queen of the Pacific”, was arrested in Mexico in 2007

The present government exploited the capture of Ávila Beltrán in Mexico City on 28 September 2007 to demonstrate that the "war against drug trafficking" has achieved important victories, despite the loss of more than 3,000 lives so far this year.

This woman is accused of running the route of drugs coming out of Colombia on their way to the US by sea.

With her dark Sinaloan beauty, her confidence and bearing, Sandra was used in a series of peak hour television adverts.

Unlike Sandra Ávila Beltrán, women in the drugs business are more likely to find themselves in exploitative and discriminatory situations.

Female presence in the business has increased in the last few years as people seek other ways to survive and to broaden their horizons.

Narco infantries

Women are now part of the narco "infantries". The job they most commonly carry out is that of "mules", transporting drugs on a minor scale, from south to north, across the border from Mexico to the US.

They also work as dealers on the streets. Often they are reduced to being mere objects - arm candy for those who control them to use and abuse them, making them no more than merchandise.

A high percentage of women in prisons in the border towns like Ciudad Juárez and Nuevo Laredo or in the cities of Guadalajara and Mexico City, have been accused of drug trafficking.

These are the "mules" who transport the drugs in exchange for increasingly meagre sums of money. Unfortunately these days there are women to spare for this job, and they are almost always young women - it's the same in Uruapan, in the state of Michoacán, as it is in any of the little mountain villages of Sinaloa and Durango, and many other areas of the country.

In most cases these women come with a terrible history of poverty. On occasions they are used as decoys. A couple of them are chosen to get caught so another two can go on their way with the merchandise.

At the Santa Martha Acatitla prison in Mexico City, the old woman "Guadalupe" takes advantage of visiting days at the prison to sell sweets. "Guadalupe" is of the opinion that drugs should be de-criminalised.

She runs a little business, selling cocaine, crack and marijuana. A business worth a considerable amount to its real owners.

The big drug consortiums, the known cartels like Juárez, Sinaloa and the Gulf, have for some time now found that dealing drugs by this method ("retail") is a good way of improving their business and expanding control by way of corruption.

Lives cut short

A little under 20 years ago, in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, the kidnapping of young women was commonplace. They were taken by the narcos and nothing could be done about it.

Lives cut short, strange stories of women who suddenly were involved in a mind boggling reality. Addiction, violence, power and wealth. Few lived to tell the tale.

It's the beautiful women who have the worst time when they join the collection of ladies belonging to some character from the drug world. Their lives are condemned to one of frivolity and excess and very soon they are passed over when a younger, prettier model takes their place.

The women who achieve more in the world of the narco are an exception. Sandra Ávila, the Queen of the Pacific, belongs to that elite, the so-called narco aristocracy. She has family connections with people who have controlled the drug trafficking business in Mexico for the last 30 years.

According to official data, she established an effective money laundering network which operated for many different organisations and afterwards she set up a route for the movement of cocaine from Colombia to the US.

Another exceptional woman is Raquenel Villanueva, who has been a lawyer for people suspected of having been linked to drug trafficking. Villanueva has been the victim of several attempts on her life. She claims the major problem for justice in Mexico is corruption.

It cannot be denied that in the last couple of years there has been an increase in the amount of women involved in drug trafficking. This is borne out by the number of women victims of execution in different parts of the country.

Some women have been captured as part of armed groups, presumed to have taken part in protection rackets and also as hired assassins in the service of the drug barons.

After all, enterprises dealing in drugs are just that: enterprises, where business is what counts. They really are trans-nationals. And as happens in the majority of companies in our society, women occupy the lowliest positions.

In Mexico, they are part the increasingly numerous narco infantries.

Víctor Ronquillo is a Mexican journalist and writer. He specialises in topics linked to social violence. He is the author of "The Queen of the Pacific and other Narco Women", "The Dead Women of Juárez" and "The Hidden World: political violence and impunity" and many more.