Her Search for the Narco Look Was the Death of Her.
CULIACÁN, Sinaloa, Mexico - Paulina always dreamed of looking like the most “desirable” women in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
Women like Emma Coronel, the young wife of drug-trafficking kingpin Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán, or Claudia Ochoa Félix, known as the Empress locally, and allegedly a high-ranking killer for the Sinaloa Cartel. Both are (or in Ochoa’s case, were) sculpted buchonas - a word used here for the women who become involved romantically with drug-traffickers. In Ochoa’s case, she was also, allegedly, a gun-for hire.
Picture kind of a white Kim Kardashian, but with a design only money can buy. Big bum and boobs, tiny waist, white skin, straight dark hair, a narrow nose. No amount of time in the gym will get waists and bums to such opposite proportions.
You don’t have to traffic drugs, or be married to someone who does, to bust out the look, but that’s where it hails from. It’s another part of the aspirational spectrum of mainstream narcocultura that is so pervasive all over Mexico, but acutely in the state of Sinaloa, home to the eponymous cartel.
That the lavish look and lifestyle broadcast through social media and Hollywood narco productions is financed by the sale of fentanyl, meth and cocaine, and propped up through the use of brutal violence, is neither here nor there for those who dream of looking like this.
But Paulina’s buchona dreams came to a sudden end this week. She died after a “plastic surgeon” performed a lipo procedure that damaged some of her internal organs to such an extent that it killed her, according to reports in local media. Her colon, ovaries and intestines were damaged, according to reporting, landing her in the hospital following the surgery after problems set in. A far from glamorous end to an undignified tale.
Because here’s the thing: Many of the women who aspire to this look don’t have the money to pay for it. A high quality lipo procedure in Culiacán costs around US$5,000, according to certified plastic surgeon Dr Rafaela Martinez Terrazas, who I met and interviewed last month.
And if women can’t find a wealthy male to gift them the surgery, then they resort to other measures.
“It’s common that there are pseudo-surgeons who “operate” and this isn’t the first victim of this “doctor” and others,” said Martinez to me via messenger when I sent her the case.
A system has developed in Culiacán where doctors prey on the aesthetic dreams of vulnerable young women. They allow patients to pay for procedures in monthly installments, and for reduced prices, local media and sources report. Such schemes clearly don’t provide the quality of service that Dr Terrazas strives for, which is no surprise given they charge half as much.
Foreigners from other parts of the world come to Culiacán for plastic surgery because of the city’s famed look and number of doctors who are specialists in creating it. I met Brenda there last month, who had traveled down for lipo and breast enlargement surgery from her home in Los Angeles. One of the attractions of doing it in Mexico is that it’s better value for money, said Brenda. But the doctors here are also prepared to go further.
“Here, like, I don't know, I just feels like… it's not that they're going against guidelines, but I don't know. Just the way they mold your body….I feel like they just do a better job,” said Brenda.
Statements on social media following Paulina’s death warned other girls not to submit themselves to such bargain-basement procedures, and her family are demanding that the state attorney general’s office hunt down and prosecute the offending “doctor.”
But I sincerely question whether, given the frequency of such incidents, other girls will be dissuaded from taking the same risks for the sake of looking the narco-part.
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