The cocaine queen causing a stir in Mexico

They call her the Queen of the Pacific and her every court appearance boosts TV ratings. We profile Sandra Avila Beltran, the alleged mastermind behind one of Latin America's most powerful cocaine cartels.

They call her the Queen of the Pacific and the Mexican media can't get enough of her. Yet this is no ordinary celebrity, says The Guardian. Sandra Avila Beltran is alleged to be the mastermind behind one of Latin America's most powerful cocaine cartels. Arrested a month ago, she faces charges of organised crime, money laundering and drugs trafficking and may eventually be extradited to the US. But her poise under pressure has the nation enthralled. "Oh please don't read those charges again," she reportedly told a court official, tossing back her long hair. "I already know them by heart."

The region's drugs wars have seen more than 1,500 deaths in gangland shootings this year, but Avila Beltran "is no run-of-the-mill narco-thug", says Newsweek. In skin tight jeans and sweaters, the 46-year-old brunette is undeniably glamorous (local fashionistas admire her chutzpah in demanding extra soap and make-up from her guards). She's also the girlfriend of one of Colombia's most feared drug lords, Juan Diego Espinoza Ramirez, alias "El Tigre". Arrested with him outside a restaurant in one of Mexico City's glitziest areas, she swears she made her money from selling clothes and renting houses. Prosecutors pooh-pooh the claim, saying she was the crucial "queenpin", linking producers in Colombia with middle agents in her home state of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, making her responsible for a flood of cocaine hitting US streets.

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