By: EFE
By: EFE
MEXICO- Due to their style and growing influence within drug trafficking, the “buchonas”, as the women of the drug lords in Mexico are known, are on everyone’s lips again after the arrest of Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel.
Nicknamed by some as “the Kardashian of Sinaloa”, Coronel monopolized the New York flashes two years ago during the trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán for his stunning style and his religious attendance at all hearings with the desire to be close to her husband.
Arrested last Monday in Virginia, this former beauty queen now faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment, since the United States accuses her of “conspiracy” to traffic drugs and “encourage” the activities of the Sinaloa Cartel led by El Chapo.
Coronel, from 31 years and Mexican and American nationality, embodies the stereotype of the so-called “buchonas” , as the wives of drug traffickers who like luxuries and surgeries are popularly known in Mexico.
The term derives from a luxurious brand of whiskey that is allegedly a favorite among drug traffickers.
But it is also a symptom of the increasing presence of women in organized crime.
Telenovelas are usually portrayed with jewelry, expensive handbags, luxury cars, exaggerated makeup, striking nails and fitted clothes to highlight the attributes of these “buchonas”, often objectified and displayed as a trophy by the narco on duty.
All this narcocultural propaganda projects a dream life and enjoy the money in exclusive parties, discos and bars.
“It is a juicy environment for those who get involved in organized crime, to have money to show that they have it, “explained Javier Oliva, security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Beyond all discretion, drug lord lovers have an increasing presence on social networks, where they boast of luxuries, aesthetic operations and even weapons.
Emma Coronel herself did not precisely opt for the background , because in recent years she has been giving television interviews, always denying her husband’s drug trafficking, and even created a clothing line based on the figure of El Chapo.
death and crime “, the expert stressed.
For Oliva, this” reckless attitude “was what pushed her toward her arrest, although it is not surprising since” the biography of Emma Coronel lets you see that she grew up in an environment of crime ” , as his father was also arrested for drug trafficking.
But beyond the luxurious life of Coronel, the investigation in the United States indicates her with an active role in the drug trafficking business of the Sinaloa Cartel, the largest in Mexico, something increasingly common in drug lord lovers.
According to a study by the Washington-based organization InSight Crime, women have traditionally played a “subordinate” role within organized crime, with “vulnerable” tasks such as harvesting drugs or transporting narcotics (mules ).
In that sense, the Mexican Senate last year approved an amnesty law for empty the prisons of women in poverty who were convicted of small-scale drug trafficking.
No However, the same study points out that some women have taken advantage of their relationship with the bosses to assume leadership in organizations. They are “buchonas” who made their way to stop being object women and become “the bosses.”
“Undoubtedly the capture of Emma Coronel shows how the women have been involved. women, who previously had no participation. Today women, wives, lovers and daughters have become actors, “said Oliva.
Coronel is not the first example. Enedina Arellano Félix, alias “Narcomami”, a assumed command of the Tijuana Cartel in 2002 after the murder or capture of all his brothers.
Also after the capture in 2014 by Héctor Beltrán Leyva, leader of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel in Mexico, his wife Clara Elena Laborín was in charge of coordinating the business.
At the time considered one of the most beautiful women of Sinaloa, was captured in 2016 and put behind bars, leaving behind the time when she paraded on catwalks.
By Eduard Ribas i Admetlla