Palm Trees

Women Left Behind After Drug Slayings Suffer Heavily

While the Mexican drug war rages on, much focus is placed in the drugs, the cartels and the violence; what often remains in the shadows are the families that are left behind. "Narco widows" and mothers, sisters and children are paying a high price for a trade that continues to take the lives of healthy young men.

A recent report captured the lives of some of these women and children, many living very differently than they once intended. Norma Bello is one of the narco widows and she and her five children live in a tatty storeroom after her husband was knifed to death and her eldest son jailed over a narco slaying.

"We are the ones who suffer," said Bello, 38. Her son stands accused of working for the La Familia gang and participating in the 2009 slaying of 12 police officers.

Drugs have overtaken Michoacan, where opium and marijuana have been grown for decades. Former governments are now corrupt and allow smuggling to flourish. Young men living in desperate poverty turn to working for the cartel as lookouts, informants and runners. Many end up dead or in jail and the number is constantly rising.

For those wives or girlfriends of fallen drug traffickers, they must decide whether to stay under the control of the cartel or flee and try to maintain a low profile. Some have been able to hold onto some of the bank accounts and other properties of their fallen loved-ones, while others have fled to the United States and Peru.

"We suffer the consequences of our menfolk getting into this," said Isandra, another narco widow. "The drug world makes men selfish. My husband spent all his money on other women, I had to fend for myself. I was lucky, it’s not always so easy to leave that situation. Young girls, especially, don’t stay alone long if their husbands are killed. They can end up trapped for life."