On August 20th, Cristel Yariella Gomez Espinoza, a.k.a, “La Reina del Sur”(Queen of the South), was arrested after having been on the run for nine months, wanted for being a drug capo of a cartel supplying massive quantities of drugs to the Southern Zone of Costa Rica. She is only 24 years old.

She was arrested while shopping for new pants, dressed in a pink satin romper with an open back displaying her myriad tattoos, rubber flip flops, and with no cedula or ID. The words “La Reina del Sur” were tattooed on her wrist. She was caught thanks to an anonymous phone tip called into the OIJ. Gomez Espinoza is a woman both hated and envied by many. She is also a leader of a new movement in narco-trafficking of young women amassing huge wealth and power, using their beauty and wits, rather than education and training to dominate their mostly male cartels.

Said criminal analyst Alvaro Ramos, “Gomez’s success is due to the fact that she knew how to work with discretion and, in addition, she got involved from a very young age in the world of drug trafficking, using her beauty and intelligence to succeed.”
Gomez is at the vanguard of a new generation reshaping the international crime underworld. Luis Najera, a Mexican investigative journalist reporting on drug cartels said, “Millennials are the changing face of organized crime. They have a different sense of entitlement. They have a different vision.” They also have excellent networking and computer skills.

“This new generation is growing up without fear, as rigid old criminal structures are being replaced by looser, wider ranging associations”, said Najera. Najera himself was forced to flee to Canada over ten years ago, after his life was threatened for his reporting on drug cartels.

Gomez Espinoza got a close-up look at Tico narco-crime at the age of 14 when her father Alberto Gomez Calderon was kidnapped by a syndicate of Colombian-Canadians, demanding a ransom of $2.5 million in exchange for his release. He was an alleged international drug trafficker, and set an example for his daughter by also being wanted by the US DEA, and Costa Rican OIJ. He was held by his kidnappers for six months, the longest kidnapping on record in Costa Rica. He was rumored to have double-crossed his drug associates, and they took their revenge.

Gomez continued her cartel apprenticeship with her lover and the father of her two children, “El Gringo”, Irving Alejandro Guido Toruno, from whom she was able to learn the structure and management of his cartel, which she inherited at the time of his death. He was thought to be responsible for at least twelve deaths in the Central Valley, and to have a 100 mil colones bounty on his head at the time of his assassination.

Gomez honed her assets with several plastic surgeries, especially bust and buttock enhancement. Her Tico surgeon described performing the procedures while armed guards stood watch.
Criminal analyst Alvaro Ramos points out that Gomez is by no means the first female cartel leader, but by far the most powerful. He points out the female leader of the drug gang in Desamparados known as “La Senora”, as well as a famous drug gang run by a grandmother in Tres Rios.

Commented criminal reporter Carlos Fernandez about this case, “La Reina del Sur is the first truly famous female narco revolutionary leader in Costa Rica, but the narco revolution has been evolving for many years in the underworld of narco-trafficking, especially in Mexico.”

Gomez was taken to the hospital after her arrest, as she is expecting a third child. Her other children are 8 and 6 years old, and have been put into the custody of others. She awaits a trial later this year.

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