October 22, 2007
Death of a Narco 'Queenpin'
on the Mexico-US Border
Frontera NorteSur
She might not have a hit ballad crooned in her name, but Rosa
Emma Carvajal Ontiversos was something of legend in the Mexican border town of Palomas, across the New Mexico line.
Called "La Guera Polvos," or "The Blonde Powder Woman," Carvajal was reputedly the "mera mera," or "big boss woman" in blues
lingo, of the small town.
Allegedly she was in the business of selling dope and smuggling
undocumented immigrants into the United States. Well-known to the local cops, Carvajal reportedly led a crowd that stormed
and ransacked the offices of the Palomas police station during a 2004 dispute with the boys in blue. More recently, she supposedly
shot a young woman in a fit of jealously over a young lover.
Early on the evening of October 6, Carvajal was driving
through the streets of Palomas when she was suddenly ambushed. Witnesses said that a pickup pulled alongside Carvajal's vehicle
and riddled the 53-year-old woman with bullets. Carvajal's gangland-style murder was among the latest acts of violence to
unnerve Palomas, a seemingly sleepy small town where US residents travel to get their teeth fixed or to buy a cheap Mexican
souvenir.
Palomas is also an important hub of organized crime.
Murders
and kidnappings have long disturbed the peace in ironically-named Palomas, which in Spanish means "doves." Occasionally the
violence spills over to New Mexico. Last month a wounded Oklahoma man arrived at the Columbus Port of Entry after suffering
a gunshot wound on the other side of the border. In a bizarre incident earlier this year, a car sped through the port of entry
transporting a dead driver, whose face had been disfigured by bullets, while a passenger struggled to steer the vehicle. A
third
passenger was also dead and a fourth one was wounded. Minutes prior to the chaotic scene, US Customs and Border Protection
officers listened to automatic gunfire rip the early morning calm of Palomas.
On another level, the murder of "La Guera
Polvos" presented another instance of women in the annals of organized crime. Far from being just girlfriends of drug traffickers,
or simple "mules" who transport drugs, women are moving up in the ranks of the business. Tijuana's Arellano-Felix drug cartel,
for instance, is headed up by Enendina Arellano Felix, according to some reports.
For weeks the Mexican media have
been captivated by Sandra Avila Beltran, the so-called "Queen of the Pacific." Recently detained by Mexican federal police,
Avila is allegedly a major connection in the international cocaine business. The 46-year-old woman is part of the third generation
of a Sinaloa-based family that includes iconic traffickers like Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo.
Sexy
and sassy, and enjoying the poise of a big screen star, Avila is accused of moving tons of Colombian cocaine through Mexican
ports. The sagas of Avila and other reputed narco-women have inspired songwriters and novelists. Spanish writer Arturo Perez-Reverte's
acclaimed novel, The Queen of the South, tells the story of an Avila-like drug lord.
Always on the cutting edge of popular events and culture, Los
Tigres del Norte sang a 1987 tune, Camelia la Texana, that's about a woman drug smuggler who shoots a man and disappears with
the dough. As part of their song list, Los Tucanes de Tijuana performs a narco-corrido about none other than Sandra Avila
Beltran.
It remains to be seen if the tale of "La Guera Polvos" will one
day be heard rising from a cantina jukebox.
——————————
Sources:
El Diario de Juarez, October 8, 2007. Lapolaka.com, October 8, 2007. El
Universal/EFE September 28, 2007. October 1 and 3, 2007. El Sur, October 1, 2007. La Jornada/Notimex, September 28,
2007. Deming Headlight, September 17, 2007. Article by Kevin Buey. El Paso Times, May 8, 2007. Article by Louie Gilot.
——————————
Frontera
NorteSur (FNS)
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
——————————
(Reprinted with authorization from Frontera NorteSur, a free, on-line,
U.S.-Mexico border news source. FNS can be found at http://frontera.nmsu.edu/)
Translation FNS
