Mexico’s New Narco-Queens Gain Notoriety Despite Cartel Ruthlessness

As cartel violence continues to spread through Mexico and its government is unable to put a stop to it, cartel leaders continue to gain fame and influence becoming pop culture icons and the topics of songs and TV shows. One group in particular, the female leaders and top members of various cartels have gained much notoriety in recent years.

Sometimes they are family members or love interests of top leaders. Other times they killed their way to the top. This is the case for the currently jailed Melissa “La China” Calderon Ojeda — former leader of a Sinaloa Cartel hit squad. Despite the changing world of drug cartels, what stays constant is the rise of new drug queens who for a short time fill the vacant spot left by their predecessors.

The most recent drug queen who is now dealing with her fall from the top is Emma Coronel Aispuro, the current wife of imprisoned Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. During her husband’s trial, she drew much media attention as she became the stereotype of the modern-day mob wife. Currently, Coronel is serving the last part of a three-year sentence on drug trafficking conspiracy charges and is expected to be released later this year. Despite not having posted anything on social media in over a year, Coronel still has more than 750,000 followers on Instagram.

While Coronel continues serving her sentence in the U.S., other narco-women in Mexico have drawn the spotlight. Some gained notoriety from their own organization while others from rival cartels.

The Mysterious Narco-Queen

Laisha Michelle Oseguera is the heiress of one of Mexico’s most violent and dangerous cartels — Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). She is also an heir to Los Cuinis, a group that became the CJNG financial wing.

Michelle Oseguera is the daughter of CJNG supreme leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes and his ex-wife Rosalinda González Valencia. She is part of the Gonzalez Valencia family whose members started Los Cuinis and have been indicted both in the U.S. and Mexico in connection with a large-scale financial network to launder millions in drug money. Her brother, Ruben “El Menchito” Oseguera, is currently in a U.S. prison awaiting trial on drug and money-laundering charges. Her sister, Jessica Johanna “La Negra” Oseguera Gonzalez, was last year released from a U.S. prison after serving 25 months for financial crimes in connection with her father’s business.

Despite the notoriety of her brother and sister, Laisha managed to remain anonymous for years until her name came up in letters that she sent to a U.S. district court judge asking for clemency in her sister’s case.

“I am writing this letter to introduce myself and tell you about some things that I have experienced with Jessica, I am her sister Laisha Michelle Oseguera González,” she wrote in one of the letters. “I am 19 years old and I am currently studying in the third semester of the university in the career of business administration and entrepreneurship.”

Laisha’s ties to organized crime went public on November 2021 when she was singled out as the mastermind behind the kidnapping of two Mexican sailors in Jalisco. She also shares various properties with her mother including a house in the Jardines de Chapultepec subdivision in Tijuana.

The Stepmother Narco-Queen

One of the new revelations that surfaced in the aftermath of the September 2022 hack of Mexico’s Military databases which became known as the Guacamaya Leaks, was that the drug lord El Mencho had separated from his wife and had a new love interest.

The arrival of a new female to the upper levels of CJNG meant the emergence of a new narco-queen — 56-year-old Guadalupe Moreno Carrillo. According to the information in military documents, Moreno is part of the regional leaders and plaza bosses for CJNG. However, there is no information about how she met El Mencho or how her role in the cartel started. Her appearance remains a mystery.

Sinaloa’s New Narco-Queen

The two high-profile arrests of Ovidio “El Raton” Guzman, one of the sons of jailed Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin Guzman Loera, brought the spotlight to his partner Adriana Meza Torres. The young socialite also comes from a family of Sinaloa Cartel drug lords.

Meza Torres is the daughter of the late Raúl “M-6” Meza Ontiveros a top ally of Sinaloa kingpins Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and El Chapo, who was murdered in 2007 in Culiacán. She is also the sister of the late Raul “El Mini M-6” Torres Meza who died in 2010 during a shootout with local police in Jalisco.

Different social media accounts provide a glimpse into her lifestyle which is now being compared to Emma Coronel. Even though she is not a public person, the images show a lifestyle filled with luxury and excesses.

Following the first arrest of Ovidio Guzman in 2019, Mexican authorities investigated and targeted the young socialite. The Financial Intelligence Unit froze her bank accounts because of her relationship with Ovidio Guzman.

Meza Torres argued before the authorities that she was in the agriculture business and her economic activities were not tied to drug trafficking or money laundering.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and their original Spanish. This article was written by “Dharma Fernández from Baja California.”