The Consequences of “Feminizing” Latin America’s Drug War
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Photo: New York Times
It has been well documented that women have been victims of war, enduring violence, rape, and even murder. Yet recently, in Latin America, mainly in high areas of drug crime such Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, women have shifted from being exclusively victims, to becoming an active and a growing percentage of criminals in drug related activity. They are in fact “feminizing” many components of the Latin American drug war in both sheer numbers and leadership.
Recent media coverage has popularized the use of the term and concept of feminization, specifically as it relates to Latin America’s drug wars. In the male dominated world of drug related crime, The New York Times reported, as a result of Mexico’s drug war, “the number of women incarcerated for federal crimes has grown by 400 percent since 2007, pushing the total female prison population past 10,000.”
In Brazil, where more cocaine is consumed than anywhere else in the Americas besides the U.S., an estimated 10,000 women are doing time for drug smuggling. Numerous women are just looking for economic opportunity in a tough global economic crisis, but women have been growing in numbers and in rank since the 1990’s — they are now leading criminal operations. For example, Sandra Ávila Beltrán also known as the “Queen of the Pacific” led the development of drug smuggling routes along Mexico’s Pacific coast, and Enedina Arellano Félix, is the currently alleged leader of the Mexican Tijuana drug cartel. She took over after her brother and former cartel leader was captured last year.
This is a new phenomenon. “It’s unheard of in the sense that we haven’t seen a woman inside the organized crime cartels reach such an exalted position in decades,” Mexico’s Assistant Secretary for Public Security Patricio Patiño told Newsweek. “Sandra’s rise basically has to do with two circumstances: her ties to a family that has been involved in drug trafficking over three generations, and a physical beauty that made her stand out as a woman.”
In some circumstances, women end up work along side boyfriends or husbands and end up in jail while their significant others, also involved in drug crime, roam free. As the NYT reports, “because Mexico’s justice system is so opaque, incompetent and corrupt, it is nearly impossible to know which prisoners deserve their punishment. Human rights lawyers say this is especially true for women, who are often unwittingly used by men they love.”
Yet according to the Los Angeles Times, for many women, joining this life is not a matter of choice. If their husbands or families are involved in drug related crime, they are “press-ganged, pushed by parents seeking wealth and influence, or don’t know what they’re getting into…and escape is rarely an option.” Once involved in this line of work, it is seemingly impossible to break out.
On the other hand, Denis Frossard, a prominent criminal judge in Brazil and author of Women in the Mafia states that, “before, we [judges] assumed that the only role women play in crime was as victims, now they are increasingly heading criminal operations, and drug trafficking is becoming more and more female all the time.”
The increased participation of women in drug-related crime has worried many Latin American country leaders because of potential disruption the family structure. The traditional family is patriarchal, with men as heads of households. Women usually stay within the home, as supportive roles rather than dominant ones within the prominent culture of “machismo” that runs through the veins of Latin America. As women join the ranks of traffickers, kidnappers, and “hit women,” not only do they gain new reins of power, but children are left without parents or born “jail-babies” – further disrupting the idea that women should stay at home to take care of their children.
While participation in the drug war can be a difficult way to make a living, in Colombia, where a violent drug related crime continues to rage, women may gain valuable benefits from being guerrillas in the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), Colombia’s largest and best-equipped rebel group. Over a period of 60 years, the FARC has grown from a small peasant organization to its present unprecedented military strength. The FARC finances its rebel operations through kidnapping and ransom, extortion, and narcotics trafficking. According to military analysts, the FARC earns between $250 and $300 million through criminal acts, of which 65 percent comes from the drug trade.
“Female guerrillas now constitute more than 30 percent of the FARC’s 17,000 fighters. Joining the rebels has allowed many teenage girls to break free of the traditional rural female roles of housekeeper and menial laborer. According to FARC Commander Simón Trinidad, there are lots of young girls in Colombia being, ‘exploited in the coal mines, the gold mines, the emerald mines, and in the coca and poppy fields.’ Although it is difficult to believe they are better off marching through Colombia’s remote jungles and mountains under a constant threat of attack, Trinidad claims that at least in the FARC they receive ‘clothes, food and an education,’” wrote the Colombia Journal recently.
This idea of the drug war’s feminization has not only exploded in recent news, but has also been popularized in literature and television. One of the most popular novels in Mexico today is “Queen of the South,” a story about a Mexican woman who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain. Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, made a telenovela (Spanish soap opera) of it in 2011 and the ratings were off the charts in both Mexico and the U.S. The novel’s significance highlights the gap between the sexy myth of feminized crime, and the complex reality.
Sexy or not sexy, women are rapidly advancing in power and position among some of Latin America’s most ruthless drug cartels. What does this shift in power mean for illegal activity? Some say that as women take a more active role it will change the very nature of drug trafficking as we know it. Perhaps it may become less violent, and more businesslike. Women’s increased involvement in drug activities may disrupt the family structure, but perhaps creates a less brutal environment for Latin American countries as a whole. Children might be born in prisons, but perhaps fewer people may die. This remains to be seen. What does seem clear, however, is that the drug war’s feminization brings new roles for women, albeit illegal ones – woman are taking the lead, and it could mean some serious changes.
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7:53 am
In some circumstances, women end up work along side boyfriends or husbands and end up in jail while their significant others, also involved in drug crime, roam free. As the NYT reports, “because Mexico’s justice system is so opaque, incompetent and corrupt, it is nearly impossible to know which prisoners deserve their punishment. Human rights lawyers say this is especially true for women, who are often unwittingly used by men they love.”
Riiiiight, because that NEVER happens in the US… the American legal system is a paragon of justice and hope for a better world. Ugh.
11:24 am
It’s important to note the different roles that women are playing within drug trafficking operations. While a few are becoming “queenpins” and taking over, the vast majority who are involved are serving as mules, bringing the drugs across borders. Many others are low-mid level, running furniture and jewelery stores and whatnot from which money is laundered and business is transacted. Only at the very very top does being involved in drug trafficking offer opportunities for empowerment for women.
12:16 pm
Definitely right on. There are many more women in the lower echelons of drug related crime. What is interesting will be the effects of this increase of women involved and thus higher possibility women to gain larger roles and ranks in the years to come. I wonder if this will truly lead to empowerment? Sure, women will definitely have more control/power in various sectors in LatAm as well as a kind of economic stability to provide for their families, but long-term will it end up be something positive?
4:19 pm
I spent this past summer in Bogota, Colombia working at the U.S. embassy with USAID. I was required to read a text about 10 children, who now are adults, who escaped the horrors of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). It was inspiring to read the roles that the girls held, and, to my amazement, the roles didn’t appear any different from the boys. I also had the opportunity to sit in on several interviews with members who were once a part of FARC’s illegal armed group. Surprisingly enough, about a third of the people who were interviewed were women. Most poor Latin American women are involved in illegal activities such as prostitution and gang criminality from their childhood, in order to support themselves and their families. As a result, it is argued that many such women in the region oppose the social injustices that have led them to live under such conditions. In this context, several women have joined the FARC and other rebel groups as a way to express their rejection of the situation that they have been forced to live with. In the FARC, these women are primarily fighters, just like the men. Like the article says, “The increased participation of women in drug-related crime has worried many Latin American country leaders because of potentially disrupting the family structure.” This “family structure” is addressing the typical roles women are assumed to hold; mainly, staying at home with their children. Also, since most women become pregnant while living amongst certain illegal armed groups, the FAC reserve a place for motherhood among its female fighters. However, many women who have left their ranks report that they have been forced to have abortions, or their babies have been abandoned in towns. I think that most Latin American countries are far from being entirely run by women, but their increased involvement in drug activities may create a less severe environment for Latin American countries as a whole.
12:48 am
This post was somewhat shocking to me considering the region of the world in which it developed. Latin Americans are part of what is usually a very strict culture, most commonly considered to be centered around the man, with the woman playing a smaller role outside of the home. However, given the malicious nature of crime, organized or otherwise, it is not impossible to believe that gender is not much of a consideration to those most deeply involved with it. I don’t believe women’s role as leaders and organizers in South American drug trafficking will make for much of a change in the business. However, there is a major change in gender role in which women are truly experiencing a role of power, even though it may be an illegal one. It is difficult to gauge what the repercussions of this empowerment of women in Latin American society will be. The skills they will learn in such leadership positions may entice some women to seek leadership roles in other avenues as well such as political ones. In addition, this probably has an equally significant impact on the way Latin American men view women in positions of power. This acceptance may gradually lead to an overall change in attitude which can have far reaching consequences for the opportunities available to women.
10:15 am
Very good article but think about it children, women have been forced to do things like this for years. Think of Germany and with Hitler, the children that HAD to enter the Hitler Youth…I know drugs are a problem here in US but I truly feel there are much worst cases going on here and the laws for drugs are stiffer. I myself would so much rather see the laws changed for pedophiles, rapist, murders and sex trafficking. The situations children, women, families and even males are put in to save their families are unreal today..ever read the book Freedom Writers? One high school Latino girl whose father and the rest of the family were in a gang and she was too go into court and lie to save a member of the gang. It was emotionally draining her because she had been placed in a classroom with other gang members, bloods, geeks and so forth but had a teacher who got them to believe in themselves and what was right, they also read The Ann Frank Story and met the secretary who hid the Frank family. I feel for these women, in a certain part of Africa I believe (please don’t quote me on the country) but Iman, Stings wife fights for this. Young girls clitoris is cut off when they are around 8-10yrs old because they are not to enjoy sex..just there as a machine. I believe pot should be legalized for people who need it, medically because all these pills that have side effects such as suicide, heart disease, liver disease..pot doesn’t do that. I know if it’s laced with something yes it will but I’ve never heard of a person dying for pot but alcohol yes! Can pot give you cancer no but cigarettes can. I really don’t believe most of these children, women and families have a choice when it comes to getting involved and I think people here in the US should really be thankful that we have a say so. And for all these people here complaining about immigration and how many are coming here maybe if we looked at our laws concerning drugs these people wouldn’t want to escape their country and live here.