Female drug smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border: gender, crime, and empowerment.

Female drug smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border: gender, crime, and empowerment. Introduction Rosa Maria had never seen marijuana before. She only picked up thepackage of "green fibers" from the El Paso El Paso(ĕl pă`sō), city (1990 pop. 515,342), seat of El Paso co., extreme W Tex., on the Rio Grande opposite Juárez, Mex.; inc. 1873. motel because hersister said the police were coming to get her nephew and it wasnecessary to hide the evidence. On the bus home she was in a panic. Theplastic bag emitted a spicy vegetable smell. Rosa Maria knew nothingabout drugs but had to protect the nephew even though he was an addictand marijuana seller. Florinda, however, did it for the money. It wasjust $50, but that was plenty for a high school girl and all she had todo was walk across the Paso del Norte Del Norte can refer to multiple things: Del Norte County, California Del Norte, Colorado Bridge from Juarez with the stuffstrapped to her body. The second time she crossed a load she got caught. Zulema smuggled tons of cocaine for the Medellin Cartel buteventually went independent. She said the best transactions were thoseinvolving heroin because they involved a quick exchange where one partysaid, "here's the smack, fucking asshole," and the otherparty replied, "here's the money, asshole" [aqui esta lachiva, pinche goey ... aqui esta el dinero, guey]. (1) These are threeof the fifty accounts I collected about women and drug smuggling on theborder. They demonstrate the complex impact of drug smuggling onwomen's lives. In popular media, the recent film Maria Llena de Gracia [Maria Fullof Grace] dramatically depicts young Colombian women who attempt tosmuggle smug��gle?v. smug��gled, smug��gling, smug��glesv.tr.1. To import or export without paying lawful customs charges or duties.2. To bring in or take out illicitly or by stealth. cocaine into the U.S. Yet, the prevailing image and stereotypeof drug traffickers in the mainstream imagination is that of the machoTony Montana character portrayed by AI Pacino in the movie Scarface.This movie became a hit, not only with the general public but with LatinAmerican drug dealers themselves who were reputed to watch the movierepeatedly and imitate Montana/Pacino's style (Marez 2004:9-18).Likewise, the male AK 47-wielding rebel of the narcocorridos [drugsongs] dominates images of Mexican and border drug smuggling (Edberg2004). According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Surovell, such images reflect "the notoriouslysexist world of the drug cartels" (Surovell 2000:3; McDonald2005:122). This world, as described by novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte inbluntly sexist terms in The Queen of the South, is one in which themorras [girlfriends of drug traffickers] dye their hair blond and"watch the telenovelas Main article: Telenovela This is a List of telenovelas: Argentina099 Central 22, El Loco ("22, Crazy") 90-60-90 Modelos ("90-60-90 Models") Alas, Poder y Pasi��n on TV, they listen to Juan Gabriel andnorteno music, and then they go on little $3,000 shopping sprees toSercha's and Coppel, where their credit's even better thantheir cash" (Perez-Reverte 2004:35). Such essentializing characterizations, though intriguing, do notreflect the diversity and polysemous nature of the phenomenon, and as ofyet have been seldom challenged by social science research (Anderson2005). (2) Women's involvement in drug smuggling, despiteoccasional stereotypical cultural references in literature, movies,songs and news reports, remains understudied and not well understood(Denton and O'Malley 1999; Inciardi, Pottieger and Black 1982;Maher and Curtis 1993; Green 1998). To date, complete statistics aboutthe distribution of women drug smugglers across geographic and socialspace are unavailable. (3) Even though the vast majority of U.S.-Mexicoborder women do not engage in smuggling, (4) the region's povertyand the increased income drugs provide push thousands into the tradeeach year. Moreover, border women who are not smugglers themselves areoften heavily affected by the drug business, whether as drug consumersor the spouses, lovers or relatives of male smugglers (Dibble 2005). Anderson (2005) states that women play key roles in drugorganizations as providers of sustenance and housing, buyers and sellersof drugs, and subsidizers of dependent males. But, as we will see below,border women's drug roles transcend this model in many ways. (5)The article's main purpose is to transcend stereotypical images ofwomen in the drug trade and demonstrate that there are a variety of drugtrade roles for women shaped by economic, social and personal factors. Asecondary purpose is to gauge the impact of these diverse roles onwomen's relative "victimization victimizationSocial medicine The abuse of the disenfranchised–eg, those underage, elderly, ♀, mentally retarded, illegal aliens, or other, by coercing them into illegal activities–eg, drug trade, pornography, prostitution. " or"empowerment" (6) vis-a-vis men. Such research is relevant tothe lives of women in the informal economy throughout Latin America Latin America,the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. andglobally. (7) Women, Drugs, and Violence in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso The Mexican illegal drug business is a multi-billion industrydominated by cartels--large, often family-run, corporate-likeorganizations--which operate in collusion with elements of thecorruption-ridden national state (and corrupt members of U.S. lawenforcement) and in violent competition with each other. The cartelstransport drugs through territories in which they have bribedpoliticians, police, military officials and border guards. Thisarrangement is known as "la plaza." The main cartels includethe Chapo Guzman Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel The Tijuana Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel from Tijuana, Baja California. It covers the northwestern part of Mexico and competes with two other major cartels: the Ju��rez Cartel of Ciudad Ju��rez, Chihuahua Navojoa, Sonora was also a major (center), and the Gulf Cartel (east). , the Gulf Cartel The Gulf Cartel (C��rtel del Golfo) is a notorious drug running organization based in Matamoros, in Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is believed to currently be the second largest drug cartel in Mexico after the the rival Sinaloa cartel, the gulf cartel is responsible for a considerable , and theJuarez Cartel which controls the El Paso/Juarez plaza (Blancornelas2002; Ravelo 2005; Gomez and Fritz 2005). In the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?"midmost of the largercartels, smaller trafficking organizations and independent operatorssmuggle smaller quantities of drugs. The often dangerous, trauma-filledlives of drug traffickers result from circumstances spawned by theinformal, unregulated, underworld nature of smuggling (Nordstrom 2007b)and the police and military pressures exerted by the U.S.government's so-called "War on Drugs" and by the Mexicangovernment. The women analyzed in this article either worked directly for theJuarez cartel (or its precursors in the area) or smaller local networksthat in some cases maintained loose connections to the cartel (Bowden2002). Research on women in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso takes on specialurgency because of the infamous femicides of nearly 400 women--that haveoccurred in Juarez since 1993 (Gonzalez-Rodriguez 2002; Valdez 2005).This horrifying phenomenon attracted enormous media and scholarlyattention to Ciudad Juarez, the largest city in Chihuahua, a majorcenter for international immigration immigration,entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. , and the site of more than 300assembly plants known as maquiladoras. The scholarly literature onJuarez emphasizes the fundamental role of the maquiladora ma��qui��la��do��ra?n.An assembly plant in Mexico, especially one along the border between the United States and Mexico, to which foreign materials and parts are shipped and from which the finished product is returned to the original market. (8)industry--which cultivated a predominantly young, migrant femaleworkforce that has not been adequately compensated or protected inneighborhoods or during travel to the workplace--in generating genderinequalities and a sexist social environment (Fernandez-Kelly 1983; L.Salzinger 2003; Tiano 1994; Wright 2001). Other observers blame thepolice, deeply rooted, "traditional" machismo machismoExaggerated pride in masculinity, perceived as power, often coupled with a minimal sense of responsibility and disregard of consequences. In machismo there is supreme valuation of characteristics culturally associated with the masculine and a denigration of , and serialkillers for the violence against Juarez females (Heyman and Campbell2004:206-209). The femicides issue is too complex to discuss at lengthhere. For the purposes of this article, however, it is important to notethat these theories are insufficient without careful analysis of theviolent impact of the drug trade on border women (Rodriguez 1995). Therise of the Cartel de Juarez directed by the Carrillo Fuentes family hasplayed a key role in violence against men and women in Juarez since1990. Thousands of Juarenses have been killed, wounded or disappeared bydrug traffickers and their police accomplices (Campbell 2004:ix-xi). (9) It would be misleading, however, to only focus on genderexploitation in maquiladoras and female homicides as an all-encompassingperspective on border women. Such an analysis obscures the recentimprovements in Mexican women's access to education and medicalservices and their expanding opportunities in politics and social life,which, for better or worse, includes openings in the drug world (Gutmann1996). Narrow victimization perspectives are also limited in theirrelevance to the lives of high level female drug smugglers. Thesewomen's demeanor rather than exuding delicacy, may express themacha style of female independence championed in the songs of the famousMexican ballad singer, Paquita la del Barrio Paquita la del Barrio (rough English translation: "Frannie from the neighborhood") is the stage name of Francisca Viveros Barradas, a Mexican singer of rancheras and other Mexican styles. , in whose lyrics men areinutiles, imbeciles or ratas de dos patas [worthless, imbeciles ortwo-legged rats]. (10) As Edberg points out in a study of narcocorridos,there is increasing enthusiasm among young women for the role of drugtrafficker Noun 1. drug trafficker - an unlicensed dealer in illegal drugsdrug dealer, drug peddler, peddler, pushercriminal, crook, felon, malefactor, outlaw - someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime , a role "in which women are powerful and celebretizedfor that power via the same or similar persona currently gendered formen" (Edberg 2004:103). The growing feminization feminization/fem��i��ni��za��tion/ (fem?i-ni-za��shun)1. the normal development of primary and secondary sex characters in females.2. the induction or development of female secondary sex characters in the male. of drug smuggling has complex andcontradictory impacts on women's lives. On the negative side, womenare subject to drug violence and some male drug traffickers coerce ormanipulate lovers, spouses, and relatives into collaborating in thebusiness as mules, (11) drivers, and keepers of drug stashes (Fleetwoodnd.:20). Women also may be forced to conceal their husband'sactivities or pay off drug debts incurred by their husbands. In theseinstances, women take on considerable risk--including arrest,imprisonment ImprisonmentSee also Isolation.Alcatraz Islandformer federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218]Altmark, theGerman prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist. (and loss of contact with children), and physical harm--yetoften enjoy few of the profits of the trade. In other cases, women maybe left with children and no income or emotional support after a husbandor significant other is arrested. Inevitably, a drug traffickinglifestyle produces violence, stress and anxiety, though there are a widerange of male and female experiences that vary by race/ethnicity, classand age (on the great diversity of experience that binary gender andother categories elide e��lide?tr.v. e��lid��ed, e��lid��ing, e��lides1. a. To omit or slur over (a syllable, for example) in pronunciation.b. To strike out (something written).2. a. , see Butler 1990). Although women may suffer disproportionately from the effects ofdrug trafficking, there are other scenarios in which engaging in drugsmuggling or creating a distribution organization is a vehicle for adegree of female empowerment and liberation from forms of male controland a source of excitement and adventure (Fleetwood nd.:21-22). Suchwomen can--though not all do--adopt stylized styl��ize?tr.v. styl��ized, styl��iz��ing, styl��iz��es1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style.2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. capo roles or machopostures but use them for their own ends as women. Individual female"liberation" through trafficking, however, does little totransform a larger patriarchal cultural economy, and may even reinforceit through the promulgation PROMULGATION. The order given to cause a law to be executed, and to make it public it differs from publication. (q.v.) 1 Bl. Com. 45; Stat. 6 H. VI., c. 4. 2. of macho/a symbolism. Ultimately,women's social class position and place within drug smugglingorganizations shapes the relative benefits they receive from drugtrafficking such that drug smuggling frequently often leads to femalevictimization, especially at the lowest and middle levels of drugtrafficking organizations. However, it is also, in the case ofhigh-level and some low-level and middle-level smugglers, a vehicle forfemale empowerment. Women, Crime and Drug Smuggling: Victimization and Empowerment Historical Perspectives Existing literature that could shed light on women's risinginvolvement in drugs and the gender and cultural dimensions Cultural dimensions are the mostly psychological dimensions, or value constructs, which can be used to describe a specific culture. These are often used in Intercultural communication-/Cross-cultural communication-based research.See also: Edward T. of drugsmuggling is sparse (e.g., Anderson 2005; Molano 2004). Histories ofMexican trafficking emphasize the grassroots emergence of black marketsmuggling organizations without much discussion of their genderdimensions, or focus on large male-dominated cartels (Recio 2002; Lupshaand Schlegel 1980; Shannon 1989; Astorga 2005; Gomez and Fritz 2005).Nonetheless, female participation in drug smuggling in the border regionand elsewhere has increased exponentially since the 1970s when Don HenryFord, author of Contrabando, ran a major marijuana smuggling ring alongthe Texas-Mexico border (Ford 2005). According to Ford, whose deepparticipation in, and public discussion of, border drug trading isvirtually nonpareil Nonpareil - One of five pedagogical languages based on Markov algorithms, used in ["Nonpareil, a Machine Level Machine Independent Language for the Study of Semantics", B. Higman, ULICS Intl Report No ICSI 170, U London (1968)]. The others were Brilliant, Diamond, Pearl and Ruby. : "When I operated, few women were involved ...It was a lot more male-dominated, because of their culture, in ruralareas women didn't participate in business ... not very much."When Ford says, "their culture" he means Mexican culture. Inthe border region discussed by Ford and where this research took place,Mexican cartels dominate the illegal trade. (12) Mexicans andMexican-Americans--reflecting local demography--comprise the majority ofcartel members, though Anglo-Americans, African-Americans and othersalso participate to a lesser degree. Ford also notes that the wife of the man who sold him drugs inDurango "knew what was going on, she knew everything about it, butI wouldn't of dreamed about talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"lecture, speechrebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to her about that stuff."Ford observed, "I never saw any of them [Mexican women], even whitewomen didn't participate." Another informant noted that evenas late as the early 1980s women drivers were seldom suspected as drugcouriers at highway checkpoints near El Paso. They could easily passcarloads of boxes through the checkpoints by saying, "myhusband's in the service and we're moving." These comments, though blunt and unrefined, shed light on therelatively limited involvement of women in cross-border traffickingprior to the advent of large cartels in the late 1980s and early 1990s,such as that of the Carrillo Fuentes family that dominates CiudadJuarez. They also show that women associated with traffickers were wellaware of the trade and that some participated openly, albeit at lowerlevels. In Ford's view everything changed in the 1980s with therise of cocaine. More women joined the trade, he commented jokingly,because, "Women's lib worked. They too get to go to prisonnow." (13) Such impressions, albeit reductionistic, by a key playerand keen observer of early border drug trafficking prompt seriousconsideration, but also critical evaluation. The ethnographic materialpresented in this article will examine why greater numbers of women havejoined the drug trade, and the ways culturally-rooted gender relations,reduced opportunities or increased social freedoms, and other economicand cultural factors shape their experiences in the drug world. Drug Ethnography Perspectives Ethnographic research on drug issues tends to focus on drug use andabuse; anthropological studies of trafficking organizations, because ofthe dangers such work entails, are limited. The major studies, with someexceptions (Anderson 2005) have little information on women, treat themas secondary and subsidiary to men, or else focus on women's mostlysubordinate, victimized role in street-level crack-dealing in Americancities (e.g., Jacobs 1999; Laidier and Hunt 2001; J. Inciardi, D.Lockwood, and Pottieger 1993). Hoffer's study of the business and cultural logics ofsmall-scale heroin networks in Denver is mainly concerned with malejunkies and dealers (Hoffer 2006). Adler found that smuggling insouthern California "was a man's world" (Adler 1993).Bourgois described New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of street-selling culture as highly patriarchaland misogynistic mi��sog��y��nis��tic? also mi��sog��y��nousadj.Of or characterized by a hatred of women.Adj. 1. misogynistic - hating women in particularmisogynousill-natured - having an irritable and unpleasant disposition , which made it difficult for him to interview women.However, his in-depth analysis of a female crackhouse manager shows howwomen dealers can "invert in��vertv.1. To turn inside out or upside down.2. To reverse the position, order, or condition of.3. To subject to inversion.n.Something inverted. patriarchy" but ultimately fall preyto and reproduce male-dominant logics and social structures (Bourgois1995:215). Bourgois's analysis suggests we conduct ethnographies offemale smugglers that evaluate the culturally-embedded, sociallycross-cutting, and gender transformative potential of the drug trade.Additionally, Anderson (2005) insists, rightfully, that we focus on thecomplex interdependence Complex interdependence in international relations is the idea put forth by Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye that states and their fortunes are inextricably tied together. The concept of economic interdependence was popularized through the work of Richard Cooper. of women and men in the drug world. Building onBourgois's and Anderson's insights, this article examines thedifferential impact of drug smuggling on women, and moves beyondlimiting depictions of one-dimensional female oppression (14) andmarginality. Feminist Criminology Perspectives The broader study of female criminals and the effects of crime onwomen is an underdeveloped field by comparison to studies of malecriminality (Carlen et al. 1985; Naffine 1987; Chesney-Lind and Pasko2004; Miller 2000). An emerging feminist criminology constructs acritical analytical framework for explaining women's patterns ofcriminal behavior (Anderson 2005; Chesney-Lind 2006; Denton andO'Malley 1999). A feminist approach can allow us to understand the"multiple intersecting inequalities" (Geller and Stockard2006; Burgess-Proctor 2006:28; Price and Sokoloff 2004; Collins 2000;Resendiz 2001), that push or pull women into drug crime, as well as theways that women, within specific cultural contexts, exercise agency.Hunnicutt and Broidy (2004), in a recent study that raises key issuesfor the current article, test the relevance of "liberation"vs. "economic marginalization mar��gin��al��ize?tr.v. mar��gin��al��ized, mar��gin��al��iz��ing, mar��gin��al��iz��esTo relegate or confine to a lower or outer limit or edge, as of social standing. " models for explaining femaleoffense patterns. "Liberation" refers to social changesproviding women with greater rights and freedoms (including more chancesto engage in crime).Is In this article the terms "liberation"and "empowerment" are used cautiously to refer not topermanent possession of absolute power over others (or complete freedomfrom social controls) but the ability to exercise a degree ofindependent authority vis-a-vis people and resources in specificsettings (Parpart, Rai and Staudt 2002; Allen 1999; Foucault 1979). Thus"empowerment" is an endlessly negotiated, contested process,rather than an essential state of dominance or complete power overindividuals and groups, and it is a process that occurs withininternational, national and local political and economic contexts. "Marginalization," as discussed here, concerns the extentto which women live in poverty. The authors argue that the twoexplanations should be considered complementary rather than opposed.Hunnicutt and Broidy (2004) demonstrate that impoverishment of womenleads to increased female criminal activity. Furthermore, they suggestthat enhanced freedoms for some women is also associated with economicdeterioration--and greater female crime--when such independence is notcoupled with the proper sociallinfrastructural conditions and meanswomen require to succeed in legal occupations in class andgender-divided societies. Thus, according to Hunnicutt and Broidy,female marginalization, and poverty related to women's"liberation" with limited resources simultaneously lead tofemale criminality. In their view, the two theories work hand-in-hand. This thesis, based on statistical data from the U.S., sevenEuropean and two Latin American countries (Panama and Chile) is usefulto a degree in analyzing female drug offenders on the border. However,it may cause us to overlook the extent to which economic development forwomen in general is associated with improved nutritional, educationaland health levels and concomitantly greater economic options andoutcomes, as amply documented in literature on gender and development(Parpart, Rai and Staudt 2002). Nonetheless, to the extent to whichcultural change provides some women with greater mobility and freedom insociety, yet more economic obligations and few opportunities to meetthem in the "legitimate" economy, they may turn to crime suchas drug smuggling, especially in regions such as the U.S.-Mexico borderwhere drug-trafficking is rampant. (16) We might call this a case oflimited cultural "liberation" under conditions of gendered,structural economic violence. Women's freedoms in the drugtrafficking world are "limited" because "men'sgreater possession of structural power (i.e. 'power-over') indrug markets is, to a considerable extent, made possible by women'sagency and the types of relational or transformative power (i.e.'power-to' and 'empowerment') they wield"(Anderson 2005:373). Moreover, in most cases, women's work in thedrug business involves interdependence with (or subordination to) menrather than complete autonomy (Anderson 2005:373). As illustrated below, the Hunnicutt and Broidy (2004) hypothesisalso needs to be modified, through on-the-ground ethnography, to accountfor differential divorce rates, cultural differences (including familyattitudes and practices), class distinctions, non-economic rationalesfor female criminality, and the specificities of drug smuggling. ForHunnicutt and Broidy, female crime is correlated with liberation whichleads to a rising divorce rate. Yet, the border (in all but one case,Mexican) women who are the subject of the current study have lowerdivorce rates than the general U.S. rate. (17) A prime vehicle for theirentrance into the drug world rather than liberatory divorces (that leavewomen without adequate economic resources) is staying in marriages witha narcotraficante (drug trafficker). In these cases, female drugsmuggling careers are less a result of self-sufficiency with inadequatemeans than of marrying or being in a liaison with males who work in thedrug trade (for some women, in fact, marrying a trafficker may be a kindof gendered economic strategy). Secondly, Hunnicutt and Broidy make no mention of income divisionsin the analysis of their statistical data. Women are treated as ageneric category, not differentiated by class. Yet the specificsmuggling activities women engage in are closely connected to theirsocioeconomic status and positions inside hierarchies of drugtrafficking organizations. Hence women's economic"marginalization" and its relationship to female criminalitycannot be understood without reference to the particular socialpositioning of women in class terms. This is especially importantregarding why women engage in drug crimes. According to our authors,"Female crime can be characterized as fundamentally economic innature" and "much of women's crime is related to economicneed" (Hunnicutt and Broidy 2004:131). This is true of low-levelfemale smugglers (generally the most vulnerable and victimized segmentof female drug smugglers), but not for middle and upper level females inthe drug trafficking world. For upper-level women, drug crime isassociated less with putting food on the table than with the ability togain power or express themselves through style and fashion, factors thatcombine gender concerns (i.e. obtaining power vis-a-vis men) withaesthetic and consumption issues. Finally, in the case of the female"kingpins" (Surovell's "Queenpins") discussedbelow, crime is a vehicle for liberation, of a sort, from men ratherthan its cause. Thirdly, we cannot understand whether drug trafficking victimizeswomen or provides means for a degree of "empowerment" withoutreference to the nature of their family life and kinship relationships.As Mexican culture changes because of migration to the U.S. and greatereducational, legal and occupational opportunities for women(Gonzalez-Lopez 2005; Hirsch 2003), we may see patterns of femalecriminal behavior that more closely approximate Hunnicutt andBroidy's model. Yet the strength of family and kinship as ideologyand social practice is much stronger and more enduring in Mexico than inthe U.S. and Western Europe Western EuropeThe countries of western Europe, especially those that are allied with the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (established 1949 and usually known as NATO). . Therefore, we must apply to the study offemales' criminal behavior in a border setting analyses thataccount for the specific cultural, familial and class environments inwhich they operate. Modernization of the Mexican economy has noteliminated the key role played by families in legitimate or clandestinebusinesses. Instead, large-scale drug organizations (cartels) because ofthe highly dangerous, secretive nature of their functioning actuallyrequire intense family loyalties in order to function successfully morethan do businesses in the mainstream economy. Thus I argue, followingHunnicutt and Broidy's general contention, that Mexicanwomen's increasing participation in drug smuggling is connected toparticular cultural, class and gender practices, growing social rightsfor Mexican women, and economic marginalization. Anthropological Perspectives on Gender and Latin America Recent anthropological research on gender issues in Latin Americaand elsewhere can help us transcend the somewhat static, dichotomous di��chot��o��mous?adj.1. Divided or dividing into two parts or classifications.2. Characterized by dichotomy.di��chot dimensions of the Hunnicut and Broidy model. As Babb (1998:xi-xiv)observes, women's gendered lives can be best understood through ananalysis that combines cultural with economic and political issues. Suchan analysis emphasizes the "gendered nature of ethnic identity,cultural hybridity and cultural mediation Cultural mediation is one of the fundamental mechanisms of distinctly human development according to cultural-historical psychological theory introduced by Lev Vygotsky and developed in the work of his numerous followers worldwide. " (Babb 1998:xi-xii) andmoves beyond dualistic categories that might impede our understanding ofthe "border women" discussed here whose personal lives andeconomic activities straddle In the stock and commodity markets, a strategy in options contracts consisting of an equal number of put options and call options on the same underlying share, index, or commodity future. two nation-states and cultural traditions.The work of Collier (2000), Lugo (2000) and Diaz-Barriga (2000) can alsohelp us move past essentialized, dichotomized notions of private/publicor domestic/public to theorize the��o��rize?v. the��o��rized, the��o��riz��ing, the��o��riz��esv.intr.To formulate theories or a theory; speculate.v.tr.To propose a theory about. women's lives in terms ofheterogeneous social relations and wider fields of power. Concretely,this means that an analysis of female drug traffickers must examine notonly their economic roles in the drug trade, their family lives, theirrelationships with men, and their insertion in larger structures ofcultural and political economic power. Methodological Issues The information that follows is based on ethnographic interviewswith 50 female smugglers or other knowledgeable sources, (18) conductedalong the U.S.-Mexico border primarily in the El Paso/Ciudad Juarezregion, and extensive participant observation participant observation,n a method of qualitative research in which the researcher understands the contex-tual meanings of an event or events through participating and observing as a subject in the research. in border settings where Ihave resided and worked over a fifteen-year period. Full disclosure ofthe conditions and circumstances of research are impossible because Icontinue to live and work side-by-side with many of the people discussedin this article. However, I will note that in addition to thesystematic, structured interviews I conducted (mostly in people'shomes and workplaces or in private offices), I also benefited fromhundreds of conversations and observations gleaned during daily life, atmy university (almost all my students are from the Juarez/El Paso areaor nearby regions of Mexico and New Mexico New Mexico,state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). ), in social gatherings suchas family parties and barroom gatherings on both sides of the border,and explorations of the region on foot and by car. This research tookplace within a context in which risk and need for confidentiality forinformants and ethnographers were high due to the close proximity ofsmugglers and law enforcement officials in two socially tight andculturally intertwined border cities. Unless otherwise specified, pseudonyms are used for informants andsources. In some cases, details have been modified to protectinformant's confidentiality and safety. The value of ethnographicresearch on drugs is that it can move our understanding beyond broadstatistical generalities and deeply entrenched stereotypes about drugsmuggling and women, and help elucidate the gendered factors shapingwomen's "victimization" and "empowerment" atdifferent levels of the drug business. (19) Some women in the drug life create smuggling syndicates, defyingstereotypes about subordinated women. Others run clothing boutiques,jewelry stores, bars and furniture stores that launder LaunderTo move illegally acquired cash through financial systems so that it appears to be legally acquired. drug money. Stillothers act as go-betweens that connect traffickers with legitimatepoliticians or with other trafficking organizations. In these cases,women's integration into drug organizations more closely followsthe contours of "traditional" roles of Mexican women. Yetothers gain power in drug businesses after the deaths of their husbands,exploiting their marital and gender prerogatives. In a few cases, womenlive comfortably from narcotics trade proceeds while their malesignificant others, who actually took the risks and generated thewealth, languish in prison. Finally, at the lower levels of the trade,women's involvement in drug smuggling generally derives from andreinforces patriarchal subordination, though "mules" maymanipulate gender stereotypes for their benefit, and some women can gainindependence from men with the money they earn from smuggling. It shouldbe noted, however, that the various positionings of women within thedrug trade are neither mutually exclusive Adj. 1. mutually exclusive - unable to be both true at the same timecontradictoryincompatible - not compatible; "incompatible personalities"; "incompatible colors" , nor essential; i.e., womenmay combine several roles, perform "traditional" roles whilesubverting them, or change social roles over time. The following typology typology/ty��pol��o��gy/ (ti-pol��ah-je) the study of types; the science of classifying, as bacteria according to type. typologythe study of types; the science of classifying, as bacteria according to type. describes and analyzes the four main levelsof female participants in the drug trade: female drug lords,middle-level women, low-level mules, and women whose involvement isminimal but whose connection to the trade is mainly a result of theirconnections with men. This hierarchy is both rooted in and (re)producespower, prestige and status differentials. Although this typology isderived from data collected on the U.S.-Mexico border, I would arguethat it has general relevance to the lives of women smugglerscross-culturally, despite differences in specific political and socialconditions. Female Drug Lords Here or in China or Rome, I do whatever I want ... I was in love with money and I am still in love with money, it is my friend, spouse and lover.--Zulema Women at the highest levels of drug organizations, because of thepeople and wealth they manage, have the greatest potential of all femaletraffickers to achieve some "empowerment" vis-a-vis men.Noteworthy Latin female drug lords historically have included "LolaLa Chata" and "La Ma Baker" (20) in Mexico City Mexico CitySpanish Ciudad de MéxicoCity (pop., 2000: city, 8,605,239; 2003 metro. area est., 18,660,000), capital of Mexico. Located at an elevation of 7,350 ft (2,240 m), it is officially coterminous with the Federal District, which occupies 571 sq mi , "LaNacha" in Juarez, Griselda Blanco For other persons named Blanco, see Blanco Griselda Blanco (b. February 15, 1943), also known as la Madrina, the Godmother, the Black Widow and the Cocaine Queen of Miami and Mery Valencia of Colombia,(21) the Arellano Felix sisters of the Tijuana Cartel (especiallyEnedina, reputed to be the current leader of the cartel), Sandra Avilaof Sinaloa, and Zulema, one of my key informants (Lavin 2004). Zulema revels Not to be confused with Revel.A revel is a type of celebration or festival, involving dancing, costumes, and general merrymaking.John Langstaff founded the 'Revels in the money, power and independence she reaped fromcocaine and heroin smuggling. Although she was raised in anupper-middle-class Catholic household in a small north central Mexicantown, as a teenager Zulema left the comforts of her bourgeois home andnun's school to live with a wild aunt in a poor barrio bar��ri��o?n. pl. bar��ri��os1. An urban district or quarter in a Spanish-speaking country.2. A chiefly Spanish-speaking community or neighborhood in a U.S. city. of CiudadJuarez on the U.S.-Mexico border. In her words, You could say that I was born into a well-to-do family. I attended La Salle Jesuit schools as a kid [in the 1960s and 1970s]. My father was a doctor by profession. I was accustomed to good treatment. My mother was very strict, and had me in a school run by nuns. Then, at the age of fifteen, I went wild [me despelote]. I initially came to Ciudad Juarez on vacation. I had grown up in an atmosphere where everything was chandeliers, propriety and good manners. I guess you could say I was toda una senorita [a very proper young lady]. My aunt who lived in Juarez was a whore, a drunk, a crazy woman, and considered the black sheep of the family. She worked in brothels in the Mariscal area and other parts of Juarez. [But, nonetheless, Zulema admired her.] Contrary to standard interpretations of women's motivation forentry into drug smuggling, Zulema was initially attracted to crime,including drug-selling, by the opportunity it presented for adventureand revolt against bourgeois lifestyles. Consciously rebellious, Zulemadiscarded the discreet attire of her social class and donned a masculinechola Chola(chō`lə), S Indian dynasty, whose kingdom was in what is now Tamil Nadu. Its chief capitals were at Kanchi (Kanchipuram) and Thanjavur (Tanjore). outfit--long hair rolled-up and covered with a baseball cap, longwhite t-shirts, khaki pants and Converse tennis shoes--more appropriateto the working-class Colonia Chavena. Forging a remarkable declasse d����clas��s��?adj.1. Lowered in class, rank, or social position.2. Lacking high station or birth; of inferior social status. trajectory, completely opposite of the stock rag-to-riches morality play morality play,form of medieval drama that developed in the late 14th cent. and flourished through the 16th cent. The characters in the morality were personifications of good and evil usually involved in a struggle for a man's soul. of Mexican telenovelas, Zulema apprenticed herself to a smuggler andsoon became a full-fledged pasamojados [immigrant smuggler] andcontraband alcohol smuggler, pushing a raft from one bank to the otherof the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo in the late 1970s. Zulema's life andthat of other female drug lords, though not typical of averagesmugglers, sharply contradict cultural stereotypes about Mexican femalepassivity or that the only role for women in the drug life is that of"trophy wife." To men who would challenge her, Zulemaresponded, "I don't have what you have hanging there, but I ama real cabrona" [hard-ass]. Zulema's remunerative, illegal business led to connectionswith two of the largest and most legendary drug traffickers in NorthernMexico: "El Flaco" (22) and Pablo Acosta Pablo Acosta was an infamous Mexican narcotics smuggler, and adviser and partner of Amado Carrillo Fuentes. While firstly smuggling only marijuana and heroin, Acosta becoming increasingly involved in the cocaine trade near the end of his life. . "El Flaco"had contracted for Zulema to cross a load of alcohol, but unbeknownst toher the box actually contained only a few bottles of liquor and the restof the contents were packets of cocaine. When Zulema and her partnerdiscovered that they had been tricked into crossing coke into the U.S.they stole the load and began to sell it in the bars and streets of ElPaso. But "El Flaco" and a Colombian known as "ElMexicano" discovered what they were doing and captured them atgunpoint. In the confrontation that resulted Zulema said to thetraffickers "why did you tell me it was alcohol when itwasn't. You tricked me. If you're going to kill me do it.You're a bunch of cowards with no balls [son unosdeshuevudos]." Zulema's toughness and integrity impressed thetraffickers. Instead of killing her, they invited her into theirorganization. Thus, Zulema's macho style and determination gainedher acceptance in the then male-dominated drug world and allowed her tomove upward. Subsequently, instead of hauling a raft full of contraband Mexicanliquor, Zulema began crossing packages of cocaine into El Paso for$2,000 a load. After her first big payoff, Zulema hired two taxis andwent on a wild shopping spree at a Juarez supermarket, returning to heraunt's humble barrio dwelling with boxes of meat, fruit, cereal andhousehold items for her many cousins which they flaunted in front oftheir jealous neighbors. Zulema's liaison with "ElMexicano" took her to Colombia in the 1980s and eventually a loveaffair with one of the top South American capos but she eventually lefthim because she wanted to do business, not be a subservient sub��ser��vi��ent?adj.1. Subordinate in capacity or function.2. Obsequious; servile.3. Useful as a means or an instrument; serving to promote an end. spouse. Shereturned to "El Mexicano" and resumed cocaine smuggling on theborder near Nuevo Laredo Nuevo Laredo(nwā`vō lärā`thō), city (1990 pop. 218,413), Tamaulipas state, NE Mexico, across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Tex. until Mexican judicial police stormed her houseand gunned him down. Zulema did not allow the death of "ElMexicano" to stop her: I grabbed the diaper bag, another bag, and the baby carriage and stuffed $700,000 in cash, and 15 kilos of dope [worth $400,000 in the U.S. at that time] inside them ... As far as my relationship with "El Mexicano" is concerned, more than anything, it was a business relationship. In Zulema's case, male lovers were also business partners andshe did not allow them to dominate her. Drug trafficking profits allowedher to achieve a freedom from male control that was available to fewother women of her background. After "El Mexicano's"death Zulema became the leader of her own heroin and cocaine smugglingring in major Texas cities in the 1990s. Zulema was a serious businesswoman who criticized men and women smugglers for the sexual weaknessesthat led to their downfall: "men take untrustworthy women intotheir bedroom, their caleta [hiding place for drug stash stashDrug slang nounA place where illicit drugs are hidden ] ... the womenwere just whores, going wild, going to orgies, not me." When hernew lover, whom she chose from among the workers in her drugorganization, mistreated her Zulema replied, "don't come to mewith lies and machismo," and she shot him. According to Bowden,"In her time, she has moved tons of cocaine, she has had menmurdered." (23) In spite of her tough-mindedness, Zulema alwaystook good care of her children whom she kept absolutely separate fromthe drug trade. She had one house for drug transactions (and visits bymale lovers) and another house for her family. Zulema said she was notvery sex-oriented; she didn't need sex, she was interested inmoney. When she was busted, she had no regrets, only that she wascaught. Selling drugs allowed Zulema to live her life on her own terms,free from the worst excesses of male dominance Male dominance, or maledom, generally refers to heterosexual BDSM activities where the dominant partner is male, and the submissive partner is female. However, the term is sometimes used to refer to homosexual BDSM activities, where both partners are male and one is dominant. for many years. Myinterpretation of Zulema's life is, thus, contrary to Bowden'sabsurdly sexist allegation that as a girl she "ran off to a beachresort with drug guys fucking, sucking ... She worked her way up [indrug trafficking circles], first on her back, then on her feet"(Bowden 2005:24). As a trafficker, Zulema operated in a largely maleenvironment and she adopted the macho ethical, behavioral and verbalstyle of that milieu. Yet--at least as she recounted her life tome--Zulema since her youth had been a headstrong head��strong?adj.1. Determined to have one's own way; stubbornly and often recklessly willful. See Synonyms at obstinate, unruly.2. Resulting from willfulness and obstinacy. , rebellious female whocultivated a tough norteno attitude and lifestyle and who resisted malecontrol in her family, at school, in the streets and dark byways ofJuarez and El Paso, and in the international drug trade. Though some in that life viewed her negatively as a marimacha[derogatory reference to lesbians, roughly "dyke"], shedefiantly forged her own career as a woman, mother and, at times,significant other to men. As a tough-minded "macha," Zulemaviolated traditional gender roles for Mexican women, but her genderidentity neither simply mimics male narcotraficante models nor fits neatimages of politically-conscious feminist heroines. Rather, followingButler's (1990) innovative analysis that destabilized fixed genderidentities, Zulema blended aspects of femininity and masculinity in herlife and career as a smuggler (cf., Carlen 1985:9). Not all women drug lords adopt a macha stance--indeed the purposeof this article is to show the great variety of roles and styles offemale participation in smuggling--but by doing so, female drug lords or"queenpins" contradict the aforementioned main stereotype offemales in the drug world, i.e., that they are passive, appendages ofmale traficantes. Yet it also would be misleading to consider"queenpins" or the other female traffickers discussed here asproto-feminists, who sell drugs in order to promote female solidarity(among other smugglers or women in general). Women, like men, sell drugsfor various reasons, especially economic need, although femaledrug-selling is also connected with women's efforts to seekindependence (vis-a-vis men). These motivations may change during a drugsmuggler's career, however, to the degree that women smuggle drugsspecifically in order to provide for their families, women smugglers maybe said to bear a "gender consciousness" (Kaplan 1982), i.e.,smuggling is a strategy women adopt in order to meet specific concernsrelated to their gender. However, in the case of Zulema and other femaledrug lords, "empowerment" through smuggling is a narrow kindof gendered consciousness that serves their individual interests and notwomen generally. Moreover, when female "queenpins" andsicarias [hit-women] engage in intimidation and violence it is a kind ofempowerment of the self at the expense of others. Although Zulema's case may seem extreme, there are othersimilar cases of powerful female drug lords, though they seldom appearin social science literature on drugs which emphasize women'svictimization (Anderson 2005:374). Ignacia Jasso, "La Nacha,"sold drugs, especially to addicted American soldiers, from a comfortablemiddle-class home in Ciudad Juarez located near the Paso del NorteInternational Bridge. She reputedly re��put��ed?adj.Generally supposed to be such. See Synonyms at supposed.re��puted��ly adv.Adv. 1. ordered the murders of 11 Chinesetraffickers in Juarez in the 1920s and controlled the heroin trade inthe city through the 1970s. Ignacia's descendants ran the business,selling drugs at well-designated intersections in the heart of theJuarez brothel district for some time after her demise. "LaNacha" is a legendary figure about whom I collected numerous verbalaccounts. Some considered her a "loving mother" (Linares2006:1) and others "a sort of Robin Hood Robin Hood,legendary hero of 12th-century England who robbed the rich to help the poor. Chivalrous, manly, fair, and always ready for a joke, Robin Hood reflected many of the ideals of the English yeoman. figure ... because she wasan extremely generous woman to her neighbors" (Ibarra nd.:2) Onewoman who knew her said that "La Nacha" "had a bighandbag always on her lap ... she would not hesitate to use the gun shekept there." Nunez states that, "La Nacha" was"discreet" and "respectable," but "undoubtedlythe brains of the operation, and the leader of her drug gang." She"formed what could be regarded as the first true 'drugcartel' in Juarez" (Nunez 2006:3). In Colombia and the U.S., Mery Valencia ran a largelyfemale-controlled cocaine empire. Surovell describes her as follows:"Not especially pretty or sexy, Valencia's personality hasbeen described by the press as 'severe.' She has been dubbed a'behind-the-scenes taskmaster task��mas��ter?n.1. One who imposes tasks, especially burdensome or laborious ones.2. A source of burden or responsibility: The profession of medicine is a stern taskmaster. ,' demanding an exact accountingfor every ounce of coke sold, 'a bean-counting boss' who madeher own sister pay up for losses due to bounced checks" (2000:2).Apparently, she even intimidated the male members of her organization,one of whom was heard saying on a wire-tapped phone conversation that he"would never do anything without La Senora's permission."Likewise, I learned that a female member of a prominent Juarez drugfamily repeatedly taunted her boyfriend (also a smuggler), onlyhalf-jokingly, by saying "I am going to tell my dad to disappearyou." As we have seen, women drug smugglers at the higher levelshave been quite capable of violence and intimidation. "LaGuera" ("The Blond"), a high-level Juarez trafficker, isresponsible for several quite public drug executions. Women, like men, may obtain excitement, adventure and thrills fromengaging in illegal activities such as drug smuggling. We should notassume, as Hunnicutt and Broidy (2004:131) claim, that women's solemotivation for engaging in crime is narrowly economic or subsistenceoriented. Zulema, as described above, loved the life of a powerful drugsmuggler, until she was busted. Another female informant, Sonia, theformer lover of the founder of the cartel that emerged after the declineof "La Nacha's" empire, affectionately described to me,"the old AK 47s [a key symbol of Mexican drug traffickers] withwooden handles [which] I like better than the new ones [because] theyare easier to handle." For these high-level female traffickers, drug smuggling, though anunstable, dangerous pursuit allowed them a pleasurable lifestyle andrelative autonomy from men. These women, at least for a time, were ableto avoid the twin traps of "liberation" without resources andeconomic marginalization discussed by Hunnicutt and Broidy. Certainly,few women have the chance to become "queenpins," yet theirmere existence may serve as role models and symbols of female power forcommon women in the drug trade or those considering such a career. Women at the Middle Level of Drug Organizations If Zulema and other "queenpins" represent a kind of macharoute to gender "liberation" through drug trafficking, analternate female drug world trajectory is that of the middle-levelgo-between or diplomat, social figure head, prestanombre, (24) moneylaunderer, legitimate business owner (of businesses selling legalproducts but founded with drug money), or supportive female relative indrug families. Unlike Zulema and some high-level traffickers, such womengenerally "perform" gender within traditional culturalboundaries (Butler 1990), although they may use them ultimately tosubvert male power. Likewise, their actions may be vital to thesuccessful functioning of drug organizations. Marcela Bodenstedt, forexample, was an elegant former television personality and reputed loverof Jose Cordoba cor��do��ba?n.See Table at currency.[American Spanish c��rdoba, after Francisco Fern��ndez de C��rdoba (1475?-1526?), Spanish explorer.]Noun 1. Montoya (former chief of staff of president CarlosSalinas), who became a crucial link between Colombian cocaine cartelsand prominent Mexican politicians (Bowden 2002:206). Additionally, Susana is a sophisticated woman who runs an expensivejewelry store in Juarez. Her acquaintances, however, are aware that herbusiness is a front for her husband's illegal drug earnings. Sincethe execution-style slaying of her husband and her son, Susana hasmaintained a low profile. Mari, also, is in an intimate relationship An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship. It is a relationship in which the participants know or trust one another very well or are confidants of one another, or a relationship in which there is physical or emotional intimacy. with a high-ranking member of the Juarez Cartel. Her copo lover made herthe owner (on paper, at least) of a warehouse in El Paso, a key stagingarea staging arean.A place where troops or equipment in transit are assembled and processed, as before a military operation.Noun 1. for Cartel drug shipments. Mari got into trouble with the copo,however, because she attempted to have his name stenciled onto a shirtfor their son at a local shopping mall. Cartel bodyguards made herdestroy the shirt. The warehouse was eventually confiscated by U.S.authorities. According to a prominent writer for a Juarez newspaper, who is anexpert on drug trafficking, prominent female members of drug cartels inthe city typically run high-end, designer clothing boutiques, interiordesign businesses, money exchange houses and furniture stores carryingsophisticated products. These businesses, though impressive, areprimarily a means for laundering drug profits. The journalist observes that women from the middle strata of drugorganizations may move up to the highest level when a male drug lord(spouse, brother, etc.) is killed as occurred in the case of theArellano Felix sisters of Tijuana. When a drug lord dies, the widow hastwo options: (1) receive her inheritance and get away or out of the drugbusiness entirely, or (2) take control of the business. The Juarezwriter notes that in the many cases he has seen, women almost alwayschoose option two, but maintaining a low-profile and running thebusiness on a more discreet basis or smaller scale than that of thedeceased husband. In his view, women are successful in the drug businessbecause they are "more reliable, more trustworthy, more cerebral,less problematical, less emotional, less visceral and violent, and lesslikely to be addicted to drugs." Though such totalizingexplanations do not fit all middle-level drug women, it is evident thattraditional gender roles, though sometimes subverted, may also be thevehicle for women's advancement within drug organizations andfamilies. As in the case of high-level traffickers, females at the middlelevels of drug organizations are usually well aware of the details andnuances of the businesses, even if they were not their founders and onlygot involved through male relatives and associates. Middle strata womengenerally do not openly challenge the gender status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. , yet theybenefit considerably from drug profits. However, though men are morelikely to be killed or injured in drug violence than women, middle-levelwomen and their families are also at great risk of bodily harm The medical idea of (grievous) bodily harm is more specific than legal ideas of assault or violence in general, and distinct from property damage.It refers to lasting harm done to the body, human or otherwise, although in its legal sense it is exclusively defined as lasting .Surprisingly, however, in some Juarez cases, middle-level women haveserved as sicarias who eliminate rivals. Gender relations through which middle-level women enter the drugworld--and the simultaneously empowering and endangering dimensions oftrafficking--are well illustrated in the life of Josefina, aMexican-American woman with family ties to an extensive Chihuahuadrug-trafficking network. She described her growing involvement in thefamily cocaine and heroin business--run primarily by her father, brotherand uncles--as follows: I first found out that my dad was dealing drugs when my female cousin told me. [In the drug world] the parents try to keep the kids in the dark until a certain age. Once that age hits, the children find out. After that I started snooping and found a leather backpack of money with 1000s of dollars in it. My dad owned a tavern in St. Louis where I grew up. Downstairs in the basement of the tavern I found a wrapped plastic bag with about half a kilo of cocaine in it. I felt kind of empowered because by that time I knew that people in that business get power and it made more sense why even if my dad's business was struggling we were doing okay economically. We were making vacation trips to Mexico that lasted three months. I found out later that on a couple of the family trips my dad had brought heroin across the border in between the doors of our car. As a consequence of my brother and father getting busted, I got involved in the business, because there were loose ends that needed to be tied up. When they went to prison, there was a car sitting on the street outside our house in Las Cruces, New Mexico loaded with pot and coke. I had to deliver it. My brother also had an auto shop. He had left drugs in there. I had to break into the building (by picking the lock) and get the packages of drugs out and deliver them to one of his partners. I also had to steal a truck--we broke into the truck and hotwired it--from a person who had received drugs from my brother and not paid him. We stole the truck and took it to Mexico and sold it in the countryside. Female smugglers both engage in "non-gendered" strategiesand consciously manipulate "traditional" women's roles asan operational strategy. In the long run, women's greaterinvolvement in the drug trade, while not transforming it, may make drugorganizations even more effective as they expand arrangements fortransporting, storing, delivering and selling drugs and the myriadsocial/political/economic institutions that sustain them. Overall, however, having drug-based wealth and status in themiddle-levels of smuggling organizations does not necessarily translateinto gender equality. Without the freedom high-level smuggling womenobtain through great wealth and power, middle-level narcas are usuallystill dependent on patriarchal spouses and male partners. Lucia, forexample, is a stylish blonde, from a family with a long smugglingtradition, who has spent her entire adult life coordinating drugshipments in the El Paso/Juarez area. Lucia has plenty of money and iswell known in the drug underworld. Though middle-aged she has had aseries of boyfriends in their twenties. But one of these boyfriends beather viciously and one of her connections has put out a contract on herlife. Thus, the drug world presents possibilities for both victimizationand empowerment of women. The higher women rise in the drug-traffickingworld, the greater are their chances to negotiate fair treatment fromthe significant males in their lives. Those, at the bottom of the drugtrading world, common smugglers known as "mules," are the mostvulnerable to gender oppression. Low-level Mules Drug smuggling organizations take advantage of the border as aliminal liminal/lim��i��nal/ (lim��i-n'l) barely perceptible; pertaining to a threshold. lim��i��naladj.Relating to a threshold.liminalbarely perceptible; pertaining to a threshold. space which provides opportunities for concealment andseclusion seclusionForensic psychiatry A strategy for managing disturbed and violent Pts in psychiatric units, which consists of supervised confinement of a Pt to a room–ie, involuntary isolation, to protect others from harm , comparative economic advantages, transnational movement,cross-border cultural hybridity, and trans-border social and culturalnetworks. Yet these fluid dimensions of the border context--thatfacilitate smuggling and other illegal activities--exist simultaneouslywith U.S. state militarization mil��i��ta��rize?tr.v. mil��i��ta��rized, mil��i��ta��riz��ing, mil��i��ta��riz��es1. To equip or train for war.2. To imbue with militarism.3. To adopt for use by or in the military. and vigilance of the frontier whichinclude thousands of Border Patrol agents, permanent walls, fences andother physical obstacles, cameras, infra-red sensing devices and aerialsurveillance (Andreas 2000; Nevins 2002). The expansion of female drugsmuggling is part of women's attempts at economic advancement andcoincides with the efforts of drug cartels to create new and innovativeways to avoid detection and confiscation confiscationIn law, the act of seizing property without compensation and submitting it to the public treasury. Illegal items such as narcotics or firearms, or profits from the sale of illegal items, may be confiscated by the police. Additionally, government action (e.g. by U.S. police, immigration,customs and anti-drug agencies. Women's greatest involvement in the drug trade occurs at thedirect smuggling level, i.e. as "mules," transporters of drugsacross the border and cross-country. The El Paso/Ciudad Juareznewspapers and local oral folklore recount a litany of drug busts of menand women (Campbell 2005). Various border street-level discoursesdiscuss whether men or women make better smugglers, an obviouslysubjective matter. Although each gender shares a common pool of generalsmuggling techniques, smuggling tactics often vary by gender, and manyfemale smugglers have refined the ability to "perform"expected gender behaviors in order to trick border inspectors. For example, both men and women drive loaded cars. Yet, as a femalecustoms inspector put it, women have unique spaces in or on their bodieswhere they can conceal drugs: vaginally, between breasts, in brassieres,in other distinctively female clothing items, in faked pregnancies orsurgically implanted in the buttocks buttocks/but��tocks/ (but��oks) the two fleshy prominences formed by the gluteal muscles on the lower part of the back. . They may hide drugs in purses (oneinformant said "you can hide a pound in a purse") or in diaperbags or wrapped gifts. Women smugglers may also deliberately dress inprovocative attire and flirt with male agents and inspectors in order topass undetected. (25) One of my informants, Nancy, described a specificinstance in which she and several female friends successfully usedflirtation to elude e��lude?tr.v. e��lud��ed, e��lud��ing, e��ludes1. To evade or escape from, as by daring, cleverness, or skill: The suspect continues to elude the police.2. detection: We were bringing alcohol over in jugs and underage. We put our coats on the alcohol. The [drug detection] dogs stepped all over the jugs but we distracted the agents by flirting. We invited them to the party we were going to and they came to the party. They asked us [or dates in the future, but we were going to leave town soon [so the agents never got their dates]. Another informant, a seasoned veteran of the drug trade on bothsides of the border, outlined to me how she "dressed like ahooker" and went to sleazy slea��zy?adj. slea��zi��er, slea��zi��est1. a. Shabby, dirty, and vulgar; tawdry: "sleazy storefronts with torn industrial carpeting and dirt on the walls" bars in order to set up a bogus dealwith another smuggler who had murdered her father. The smuggler fellinto the trap and was arrested by U.S. authorities as he drove a loadedcar across an international bridge between Juarez and El Paso. The sameinformant stated that using feminine wiles to trick inspectors at thebridge was simple: I think women have a big idea for smuggling ... Better than men. They have more nerve to do it, especially as drivers. If you offer decent money to a woman they will take it because usually women have kids to support. Women are trusted more by the drug traffickers and by the border inspectors, customs and immigration. You smile and chit-chat with them. Some of them [inspectors] go so far as to actually hand over their telephone numbers so that makes it a lot easier. The customs agent will say, "Hurry on home and I'll give you a call later." So you know that person is not going to search your car. You've got to learn to use [them] ... unfortunately. Most of them don't realize they are being used.... and by the time they do it's, like ... it was so easy that ... they'll take a bribe then ... after the drugs have already gone through. That is all it takes, especially on weekends and at night. You pretend you are one of those ditzy blond drunks and that's it; that will get you across. It is easier when the inspector is a gringo. They have a thing for Mexican women. Christmas time, that was fun! It used to be nice for the drug runners. You could wrap up five or ten pounds of coke in a present with a big bow. You just say to them [the inspectors], "I'm coming over to see my relatives." Who is going to want to tear down a Christmas present that you wrapped so pretty? During the day you have all this fun with children in vans. You load up the van. You take your kids. They are already in on it. You tell the children, "As soon as we are going to get near there [the crossing station], you pick a fight with that one over there and you start crying over there. You start throwing things around and you start having fits." By the time the van comes in, it's a lady in a van with the kids in an uproar. All the immigration agent wants to do is get them out of his hair. Pinatas and stuffed toys. You get the stuffed toys at ferias. You stuff them [with drugs]. Teddy bears, hippotamuses, penguins. You just need one or two pounds of coke and bring it in in one of those. Rather than challenging patriarchal gender stereotypes and socialstructures, this informant/smuggler preferred to use them to heradvantage, thus, in a sense, subverting an unequal system. In this sheis not alone. Payan observes: "For some time, the favorite group tocross [loads of drugs in cars] was Hispanic single mothers who were U.S.citizens and sometimes had their children with them to distract theinspection officer" (Payan 2006). Moreover, older women may takeadvantage of cultural norms regarding the virtuosity vir��tu��os��i��ty?n. pl. vir��tu��os��i��ties1. The technical skill, fluency, or style exhibited by a virtuoso or a composition.2. An appreciation for or interest in fine objects of art. of grandmothers andthe respectful treatment they are due to smuggle small packages of drugson their persons. Likewise, pregnant women and women with children maydeliberately "perform" or exaggerate maternal styles,clothing, etc. as they drive loads of cocaine across the internationalbridges into the U.S. They may also hide drugs under seated children oron their bodies. Diaper bags were mentioned by several informants asprimary stash locations. Women, like men, also invent new ways of smuggling contraband thatare not marked by gender. Zulema, in her early career as a low-levelmule, devised a method in which a lead car would be thoroughly saturatedwith marijuana smoke then ventilated such that the upholstery would beimpregnated im��preg��nate?tr.v. im��preg��nat��ed, im��preg��nat��ing, im��preg��nates1. To make pregnant; inseminate.2. To fertilize (an ovum, for example).3. with fumes that were undetectable to a human nose butimmediately apparent to a drug detection dog. She would also put ongloves and rub cocaine residue around the car to further insure it wouldbe stopped by the drug dogs. Inevitably the lead car would be stoppedand searched--to no avail--which created a distraction that allowed aheavily loaded car that came shortly after it to pass through withoutbeing searched. Women, especially single mothers, make much-needed income bycarrying drugs across the border--it is an activity spawned by thefeminization of poverty The feminization of poverty is a phenomenon that has been observed in the United States since 1970 as female headed households accounted for a growing proportion of those below the poverty line. and inequality, but it also may allow them tolive without a male partner (Figueroa 2006). These increases in incomemay give women greater freedom from men in their domestic lives,although they do not usually translate into great power in the drugbusiness, which is heavily male-dominated at the highest levels.Moreover, Fleetwood points out that, "although the opportunity totraffic drugs might appear to offer a sense of empowerment, the actualjob of drug mule is a disempowered one" and, though perhapsoverstating the case, "many of the women had decided to trafficdrugs to take control of the situation, when in fact for all, thereality was the opposite" (nd.:30). But, to the extent that womensuccessfully perform the mule role without being caught, and are paidwell for their efforts, they may in some cases transcend the genderstereotype of low-level female drug smugglers dominated by their malesupervisors (Fleetwood nd.:32). Nor do the majority of women smugglersadopt "passive roles" as Adler (1993:91) found decades ago.Ultimately, however, as in business in general, a "glassceiling" prevents most women from moving up the ladder of the drugtrafficking industry (Fleetwood nd.:32). Women Connected with Men in the Drug World A fourth level of female association with the drug traffickingworld involves females who are not smugglers or active in the drugbusiness in any way; however, their spouses, lovers or male relativesare, and women are heavily impacted by the actions of the significantmales in their lives. They are victims of a kind of "genderentrapment entrapment,in law, the instigation of a crime in the attempt to obtain cause for a criminal prosecution. Situations in which a government operative merely provides the occasion for the commission of a criminal act (e.g. " (Richie 1995). Lupita's husband, for example, wasbusted in Nebraska when a car loaded with 100 pounds of cocaine that hewas driving ran out of gas on the highway. As a housewife from a poorbarrio with two small children and few job skills, she faces anuncertain future as she prepares for her husband's trial andinevitable federal prison sentence. Nayeli, an extremely bright El Pasohigh school This article is about a high school in Texas. For a high school in Illinois, see El Paso High School (Illinois). El Paso High School is the oldest operating high school in El Paso, Texas. student, wanted nothing to do with drugs but was forced byher abusive older brother to watch his methamphetamine transactions andingest various drugs with him and his friends. Because Nayeli'sfather had abandoned the family and her mother was too busy with workand her own problems to help, she was on her own. She became sodesperate she moved out of the family home and lived on the street. Another woman, an undocumented immigrant from Juarez, worked as amaid at an El Paso home owned by traffickers. Unbeknownst to the maid,the house was actually a drug warehouse (a "stash house Noun 1. stash house - a house where weapons and supplies are hidden; "attacks on stash houses is the most frequently used method of counterterrorism"act of terrorism, terrorism, terrorist act - the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against "). Shefinally learned about it when her employers asked her to receivemysterious detergent boxes late at night. The maid accepted the boxesfrom male couriers without questioning her employers. Eventually,curiosity overcame the maid and she opened one of the boxes and foundthat it was stuffed with cash--she had unwittingly received the payoffsfrom drug sales. Soon thereafter, the maid quit her job and escaped fromsuch compromising circumstances. In another case, Andrea's father ran a restaurant in a largeeastern city and though he was a poorly educated working-class immigrantfrom Torreon, Mexico, easily provided for all of his family'sneeds--until he was arrested for cocaine trafficking and sent to afederal prison in Florida. Abruptly, the whole family uprooted--leavinghouse, school and jobs--and moved close to the father because"everything revolved around him." Suddenly poor and with bleakprospects, Andrea felt that "my whole life came apart when my dadgot busted ... l had to give up everything, my boyfriend, my friends,school, everything, and move." Andrea's sister turned to theonly readily available supply of cash--smuggling drug packages for theiraunts and uncles. She too was caught and imprisoned. Now, Andrea and hermother are embittered em��bit��ter?tr.v. em��bit��tered, em��bit��ter��ing, em��bit��ters1. To make bitter in flavor.2. To arouse bitter feelings in: was embittered by years of unrewarded labor. . They blame the father for the problems in theirlives, but they regularly visit him at the penitentiary penitentiary:see prison. and their livesstill circle around him. There are, however, other scenarios in which women are impacteddifferently by the actions of male traffickers. For example, NoraSandoval, the young Mexican widow of Castor Alberto Ochoa, a high-levelmember of the Ochoa Cartel of Medellin, Colombia who was murdered by theCarrillo Fuentes Cartel in Ciudad Juarez (after being acquittedmiraculously of charges that he smuggled 6 tons of cocaine into El Paso)inherited some of the wealth (including large amounts of drug profitsand houses and properties in Sonora, Quintana Roo Quintana Roo(kēntä`nä rō`ō), state (1990 pop. 493,277), 19,630 sq mi (50,842 sq km), SE Mexico, on the Caribbean. Chetumal is the capital. and other Mexicanstates) left by her deceased spouse, married a federal policeman andstarted a new life. She never claimed the body of her dead husband; itstill lies in a morgue morgue(morg) a place where dead bodies may be kept for identification or until claimed for burial. morguen. in Juarez. Sonia, however, lived well for manyyears as the lover of one of the founders of the Juarez cartel. Theywent to the finest restaurants, undisturbed except for the capos manybodyguards, and he was kind and sensitive to her needs. But when he wasassassinated, Sonia's high life was over. Later, her brother wasalso killed by the Cartel. Since then she has waged a courageous,single-handed, but unsuccessful campaign to force the Mexican governmentto find her brother's body and punish the killers. In another case,Elena tried to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash left byher brother (who, along with her father and husband, were high-rankingmembers of the Jugrez cartel before they were arrested) when he went tojail. Elena was able to extract the money from her brother'sapartment in Juarez but was caught when she tried to carry it across theRio GrandelRio Bravo into El Paso. (26) Although there are some exceptions, the most victimized women amongmy research subjects were those who were essentially innocent bystanderswho often paid dearly for the actions of drug-dealing males. Even thoughlow-level female mules are at the bottom of primarily male-dominateddrug smuggling organizations, by becoming smugglers they may reapprofits and gain a sense of empowerment in their lives and vis-a-vismales. But the women discussed in this section, to the contrary, aremostly dependent on male actions and therefore the least"liberated" among the types of women I have discussed. Conclusions The "War on Drugs," despite its limited results and hugeexpenditure of resources, continues to be the official American policyregarding drug smuggling. A main reason for the persistence of thisineffective policy is the emotionalism and misunderstandings thatsurround the drug issue (Agar Agar, in the BibleAgar(ā`gər), the same as Hagar.agar, substance obtained from seaweedagar(ä`gär, ā`–, ăg`är)2006). Women are especially vulnerable tothe negative effects of demonizing, anti-drug discourses (Marez 2004:8;Anderson 2005:374). The ethnographic research presented here, movingbeyond stereotypes, can restore a measure of humanity to a stigmatizedpopulation and contribute to a deeper understanding of the motivationsof female drug smugglers. It contributes to drug research byilluminating the gendered cultural world of drug smuggling andillustrating the differential impacts of smuggling on women's livesthat are linked to their positions within class and gender-stratifiedtrafficking organizations. Further research is needed on the impacts onwomen in drug smuggling, but this article has shown the great variety ofroles women perform in the drug trade. The growing involvement of women in the drug trade, with someexceptions, can be linked to the interacting effects of greater socialfreedoms for women and economic marginalization as demonstrated byHunnicutt and Broidy (although I have criticized their lack of attentionto cultural and class differences and their insensitivity to thegenerally positive impact of female "liberation"). Women indrug smuggling are thus victims of patriarchal class/race/genderstructures but also active agents for their own emancipation (although,in some cases, oppressors of others). The typology of smugglers presented here can help researchers gaugethe differential impact of the drug world on women's status insociety generally and vis-a-vis men specifically. As border women (andwomen elsewhere) obtain greater mobility and social/economicopportunities, some exercise agency by smuggling drugs to achieve power,a higher income or because they are attracted to the romantic mystiqueof the outlaw. Another group of women participates in drug smugglingorganizations as an extension of their everyday domestic lives andkinship obligations as they would in legitimate businesses. Most,however, enter drug smuggling as a desperate economic measure, giventheir limited options in the mainstream economy. Still others are forcedinto the drug trafficking world against their will. They are victimizedby the decisions and actions of important males in their lives. I have argued that the few women who reach the highest levels ofcontraband businesses may experience unprecedented freedoms fromdependence on males, even if for only short periods of time. The imageof the macha "queenpin" may serve also as an inspiration forfuture female drug careers. Middle level women in the drug trade oftenperform managerial functions and benefit from drug trade profits butwithout the empowerment vis-a-vis men enjoyed by female drug lords.These women still remain, for the most part, embedded in restrictive,male dominant familial and social networks, though middle-level womenalso subvert and manipulate them, and some use their increased revenueto achieve greater autonomy from male partners. "Mules," ifthey are careful and lucky, may earn more money then previously andperhaps use that wealth to move up in the social structure andconsolidate a stronger position in their households in relation tospouses and lovers, or leave them and live separately. However, thepenalties for being detected and arrested by border police inspectorsare severe and drug profits are sporadic and unpredictable. Moreover,women who are caught smuggling may serve long prison terms and beseparated from their children and families. 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"Women are Silent Casualties of War onDrugs." North Country Times, December 23. Accessed fromwww.nctimes.com/articles/2006/12/24/health on April 23, 2007. Surovell, Harriet. 2000. "Queenpins of the Call Cartel."Exquisite Corpse/Cyber Corpse 4:1-11. Tiano, Susan. 1994. Patriarchy on the Line, Gender, and Ideology inthe Mexican Maquila ma��qui��la?n.A maquiladora. Industry. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Valdez, Diana Washington. 2005. La Cosecha de Mujeres: El SafariMexicano. Mexico City: Oceano. Wright, Melissa. 2001. "Desire and the Prosthetics ofSupervision: A Case of Maquiladora Flexibility." CulturalAnthropology 16(3):354-373. ENDNOTES (1) Translations from Spanish are by the author and are indicatedby brackets as are other insertions by the author. Most interviews wereconducted in Spanish, however, the following informants quoted in thetext made their comments in English: Don Ford, Andrea, Josefina, Nancy,and Sonia. (2) For example, Nordstrom (2007a:B11), in a review of new books onsmuggling, notes that the smuggling world "is not genderneutral." She concludes the essay by highlighting a quote from oneof her key informants: "It's hard to get a date whenyou're into smuggling--most everyone's male" (Nordstrom2007:B11). (3) According to Solovitch: "Drug arrests have tripled since1980; as a result, the number of jailed drug offenders in 2000 equaledthe total number of inmates in U.S. prisons and jails 25 years ago,according to The Sentencing Project The Sentencing Project, based in Washington, D.C., promotes "more effective and humane" alternatives to prison for criminal offenders. It has produced several influential reports on inequalities in the U.S. penal system, including the disenfranchisement of prisoners. , a research and advocacy group. Bymost estimates, women have paid the highest price. Between 1977 and2001, figures from the Women's Prison Association show a 592percent increase in the number of women jailed, from 12,279 to 85,031.According to the WPA WPA:see Work Projects Administration. WPAin full Works Progress Administration later (1939–43) Work Projects AdministrationU.S. work program for the unemployed. , the growth 'corresponds directly to themandatory minimum sentencing laws in effect since the early 1970s. Sincemore women are convicted for nonviolent, drug-related crimes than forany other, these sentencing policies have had a particularly profoundeffect on women.' Though men still far outnumber women in arrestsfor drug-related crimes, women now represent the fastest-growingprison' population nationwide for drug offenses. In 1996, thenumber of female state and federal inmates in jail for drug crimes grewat nearly double the rate of males" (2006:1). According to the prison issue advocacy organization, The SentencingProject, whose statistics come from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Noun 1. Bureau of Justice Statistics - the agency in the Department of Justice that is the primary source of criminal justice statistics for federal and local policy makersBJS , inthe U.S., women make up 7 percent of all inmates. Thus, more than200,000 women are incarcerated incarcerated/in��car��cer��at��ed/ (in-kahr��ser-at?ed) imprisoned; constricted; subjected to incarceration. in��car��cer��at��edadj.Confined or trapped, as a hernia. in state or federal prisons or localjails. Twenty-five percent of all jail inmates in the U.S. are there foralleged drug offenses (from The Sentencing Project's "FactsAbout Prisons and Prisoners" available online:www.sentencingproject.orgllssueAreaHome.aspx?IssueID=5, accessed onApril 23, 2007). Statistics on women sentenced to prison for drug crimesin the U.S. may also be found at www.amnestyusa.orglwomeninprison.html(accessed February 19, 2006). Within Mexico, women currently compriseabout half of drug arrests according to a Mexican police source (Dibble2005). Limited mention of female smugglers and women in drugorganizations is found in the work of the top Mexican journalists whoresearch trafficking such as Jesus Blancornelas and Ricardo Ravelo. (4) Many poor, relatively, unskilled border women instead ofentering drug smuggling work as factory laborers in the maquiladoras,maids on the American side, street vendors, prostitutes, and other jobsin the informal economy. (5) Male drug smugglers also present a complex mosaic that beliesfacile stereotypes. Male roles in the drug trade include purchasingagent/negotiator, political liaison, financial manager/money launderer,accountant, lawyer, transportation specialist (pilot, boat captain,driver, "mule"/pedestrian transporter, etc.), intelligenceagent, telecommunications specialist, arms procurer, car thief,enforcer/hitman, packager, warehouse foreman, guard, spotter,distribution agent, and street seller. Space limitations prevent broaderdiscussion of this issue. I plan to deconstruct de��con��struct?tr.v. de��con��struct��ed, de��con��struct��ing, de��con��structs1. To break down into components; dismantle.2. essentialized views ofmale traffickers in a future article. (6) I put these concepts in quotes to indicate that I am not usingthem uncritically. "Victimization" in this article refers tosystematic or structural mistreatment mis��treat?tr.v. mis��treat��ed, mis��treat��ing, mis��treatsTo treat roughly or wrongly. See Synonyms at abuse.mis��treat of women by men or amale-dominated society, without precluding the possibility ofresistance. A critical discussion of "empowerment" followslater in the text. (7) This article will emphasize breadth of female experiences asdrug smugglers, but it is derived from in-depth oral histories that willbe presented in fuller detail in my book in progress entitled "DrugWar: Front-line Accounts of Drug Trafficking and Law Enforcement on theU.S.-Mexico Border." (8) Maquiladora plants, also known as "maquilas,"assemble electronics, automotive parts, clothing and other products forexport to the U.S. (9) The Association of Families of Disappeared Persons of CiudadJuarez led by Jaime Hervella lists more than 200 people who have"disappeared" in Juarez over the last fifteen years, and thatonly includes people whose families were willing to publicize theircomplaints. Hundreds of others abducted by armed commandos--in actionsknown as "levantones"--have not been heard from and arepresumed dead. Given the importance of the drug trade as a generator ofviolence, I would suggest that it be given greater consideration inanalyses of the Juarez femicides. Moreover, the ultra-macho image ofdrug-traffickers--projected in narcocorridos, sensationalist sen��sa��tion��al��ism?n.1. a. The use of sensational matter or methods, especially in writing, journalism, or politics.b. Sensational subject matter.c. Interest in or the effect of such subject matter. drugmovies, and frequently the lifestyles of the traffickers themselves--hasbeen pivotal in glorifying and disseminating a violent, masculinistdiscourse, in addition to the sexist discourse associated with themaquiludora industry. Yet male drug traffickers may acquire a degree ofadmiration from the general public, whereas female traffickers are proneto being viewed as "pathological deviants." Nonetheless, morepositive images of female traffickers are emerging. Some narcocorridos,such as "Eamelia la Tejana," "Contrabando yTraicion" and "Las Tres Monjitas," actually glorifyfemale traffickers and they have attracted a following among young women(Edberg 2004:55-56, 98, 103). (10) Examples of powerful Mexican women adopting a"macha" style in popular movies, folklore and politics includethe Gertrudis character in Como Agua Para Chocolate, the cantina can��ti��na?n. Southwestern U.S.A bar that serves liquor.[Spanish, canteen, from Italian, wine cellar.] ownerin La Ley de Herodes, the politician (and former entertainer) IrmaSerrano Irma Serrano (born December 9, 1933) is a famous Mexican actress, who is known as well for her multiple scandals and controversies. Her nickname is "La Tigresa", or "The Tigress". , and the legendary soldaderas of the Mexican Revolution. IsthmusZapotec Isthmus Zapotec (native name diidxaz��; Spanish: Zapoteco del Istmo) is a Zapotecan language spoken in Tehuantepec and Juchit��n, Oaxaca, Mexico. References women of Oaxaca are also often viewed as "machas." Ina discussion of similar issues in an Israeli context, Sa'ar(2006:397430) analyzes how local women embrace "femininestrength" along the cultural borderlines between masculine notionsof power and traditional femininity. This interpretation is relevant tofemale drug smugglers, but I want to stress that the women discussed inthis paper who embrace the "macha" style of power do notconsider it inconsistent with a female gender identity. That is theyconsider it a female style (or "notion") of wielding power.Like Sa'ar, I feel that it is critical "to discuss both powerand gender as exercised rather than monopolized or absent, withoutlosing sight of the cumulative effects of gross and persistentdisparities" (2006:423). (11) There have been a number of cases in the El Paso/Juarez areain which women have been tricked by men into driving cars loaded withdrugs across the international bridges from Mexico into the U.S. This iswhat is known colloquially col��lo��qui��al?adj.1. Characteristic of or appropriate to the spoken language or to writing that seeks the effect of speech; informal.2. Relating to conversation; conversational. as a "blind mule." (12) This article is primarily concerned with female smugglers ofheroin, cocaine and marijuana from Mexico into the U.S. It alsodiscusses women involved in drug smuggling organizations who do notactually transport or smuggle drugs across the border, but whose effortsas organizers, money-launderers, etc. make smuggling possible. (13) Quotations from Don Ford are from a phone interview and e-mailcommunication with author on February 3, 2006. (14) On the limitations of using case studies to understandstructural violence and the victimization of women, see Beckerleg andHundt (2005). (15) I, of course, support and advocate greater freedom for women.I am also aware that the "liberation" explanation for sometypes of female crime is controversial (Naffine 1996:32). My point issimply to examine the extent to which women's greater social andphysical mobility allows for--does not cause per se--the possibility ofgreater participation in drug smuggling. (16) Critics of the liberation thesis, such as Carlen (1985:6-7),argue that this thesis assumes that when women obtain greaterfreedom's they will simply mimic men's patterns of criminalbehavior. I am not making that argument. I suggest that women may"take advantage" of (or be pushed by economic necessity into)new opportunities to make money in the drug trade. By doing so they arenot simply emulating men, but following their own logics, often relatedto providing for their children. (17) The general U.S. divorce rate is about 50 percent, i.e., abouthalf of U.S. marriages end in divorce (for details see U.S. governmentstatistics and National Vital Statistics Reports atwww.cdc.gov/nhs/data). The Mexican rate is 7 or 8 times less than theU.S. rate (see United Nations data on comparative world divorce rates atEncarta.msn.com/media_701500518/marriage_and_divorce_rates.html The divorce rate for El Paso County El Paso County may refer to one of the following counties in the United States: El Paso County, Colorado El Paso County, Texas in 2003 was extremely low. Therate was less than 1.7/1000 people, see the details atwww.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/vstat/latest/map23.shtm (18) Interviewees were chosen to reflect as much as possible therange and variety of female involvement in drug trafficking. In mostcases the women concerned discussed smuggling in the past tense past tensen.A verb tense used to express an action or a condition that occurred in or during the past. For example, in While she was sewing, he read aloud, was sewing and read are in the past tense.Noun 1. . Ingeneral, I avoided discussing with them activities in the present time,although some undoubtedly continue to engage in illicit behavior. Nointerviews were conducted in prison. My interviews are"ethnographic" in the sense that in most cases I maintained anongoing social relationship with the interviewees in which I was able toobserve and, at times, participate (though in no sense engage in illegalactivities) in the same cultural world. I was thus able to contextualize con��tex��tu��al��ize?tr.v. con��tex��tu��al��ized, con��tex��tu��al��iz��ing, con��tex��tu��al��iz��esTo place (a word or idea, for example) in a particular context. interview data vis-a-vis a larger social field. Nineteen of the fiftyinterviewees were men, including police officers, U.S. Border Patrolagents, journalists, and former participants in drug smuggling. Many ofthe female smugglers were interviewed on numerous occasions. (19) 0n the value of ethnographic research on violence and crime inconflictive situations similar to that of the Juarez/El Paso area, seeC. Nordstrom and A. Robben, eds., Fieldwork Under Fire: ContemporaryStudies of Violence and Culture (Berkeley, 1996). (20) R. Ravelo, "Pierde el cartel de Neza a una de sus'piezas claves,'" Accessed on August 29, 2006 fromwww.proceso.com.mx/imprnota.html?nid=43498 (21) On Colombian female drug lords, see Surovell 2000:1-11; for"Lola La Chata," see Astorga 2005:4. (22) For security reasons I must use a pseudonym pseudonym(s`dənĭm)[Gr.,=false name], name assumed, particularly by writers, to conceal identity. A writer's pseudonym is also referred to as a nom de plume (pen name). to refer to thisprominent former trafficker. (23) In Bowden's (2005) book, "Zulema" is named"Cosima." He claims (p. 24) "she has imported 14,000kilos of cocaine into the U.S." Bowden notes (p. 16) that "sheknows more people in the life than anyone else ... she was one of thefirst people to get Colombian cocaine into Europe, Australia ..." (24) Someone who lends their name to a drug dealer for use onfraudulent bank accounts, money-laundering, stash warehouses,businesses, etc. (25) According to several female inspectors, male traffickers alsoattempt to flirt with inspectors in order to distract them fromsearching for drugs. (26) The information in this paragraph comes from local journalistswith vast experience covering drug trafficking issues. Howard Campbell The University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso, popularly known as UTEP, is a public, coeducational university, and it is a member of the University of Texas System. The school is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, in El Paso, Texas, and is the largest university in the