'Narcos: Mexico' Season 2: Isabella Bautista is based on Sandra Avila Beltran, a complex female anti-hero
To claim that hypermasculinity is a hegemonic trait in organized crime would not be an off-hand remark. Dominance, violence, the show of strength, and territorialism are some of the telltale signs of toxic masculinity that can easily be observed in organized crime. One only has to imagine that three decades ago in the ‘80s, in the Mexican drug cartels, this would have been as common as it ever could have been.
In the context, one of the most interesting characters on ‘Narcos: Mexico’ is Teresa Ruiz’s Isabella Bautista. A childhood friend of the Guadalajara cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo (Diego Luna), Isabella becomes disillusioned with the man she once considered to be the last good and honorable man in all of Mexico. In the Netflix series’ second season, we see this disillusionment evolve into contempt, which leads her to make deals behind his back, effectively weakening the organization. She teams up with Enedina (Mayra Hermosillo) of the Tijuana plaza, to create her own cocaine empire.
She may seem like your average crime drama femme fatale -- and obviously, the show’s male-gaze is at fault there -- but Isabella is so much more. Speaking to Refinery29 about her role and why viewers have responded positively to a female anti-hero, Ruiz explained, “I feel like a lot of people that are identifying with Isabella specifically identify because of that struggle, not because of what she does, or because she wants power. She wants money, but as a woman living in a society that is designed for men to thrive, you understand, it’s a matter of survival.”
“As we as women aren’t our own bosses, or we don’t have space to work where we feel completely safe and appreciated, then we are at the whim of men. A lot of what motivates to get power goes beyond power -- it’s more about safety [and] about, especially women of color, not getting undermined and under-appreciated,” she added.
Another thing that makes Isabella a very interesting aspect of the show is unlike most leading characters who are based on real people, like El Chapo or Félix or the dozens more, her character is a composite of several women in the cartels, present and past. This, obviously, provides a greater depth to the character without the need to take unnecessary creative leaps in the dramatization process. Sandra Avila Beltranan
But composite of various people also doesn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t a dominant inspiration for the character. Enter “La Reina del Pacífico” -- The Queen of the Pacific -- Sandra Avila Beltran. Related to both Félix and Rafael Caro Quinteroborn (Tenoch Huerta), Beltran was the essential link between cartel bosses in Colombia and Mexico in the ‘80s. Beltran has experienced prison time both in the US and back in Mexico. But she’s still very defiant and unapologetic about her connections with the drug cartels.
“It is a business like alcohol [during prohibition] which was not legal… In those days, an alcohol salesman was considered a bad person but when they legalized it, the people who sold it became respectable. I don’t see that alcohol or tobacco salesmen feel guilty,” Beltran told The Guardian in a 2016 interview.
Both the real person and her fictionalized versions are complex characters and are as different from each other as they are alike. In the context of Beltran’s deeply unapologetic view of cartel violence and the harmful effects of the product they peddle, it becomes difficult to sympathize with her. In the same way, when one decides to map Isabella’s trajectory, it too is one that’s hard to see without the toxicity of her actions (in drug-trafficking, not her motives to take down Félix).
But that again is the beauty of a complex anti-hero, right? One can appreciate her struggles to rise up the ranks despite being overtly sexualized by the men around her, despite being shunned by someone she considered a friend, despite being considered the weaker sex in an era where gender roles were more clear-cut (and thus antiquated).
Isabella is not someone worthy of a “Yasss Kween”. But Isabella is also not one to be shrugged off. Ruiz explains it best: “When she does get out of it, it’s very exciting for her, even though this world is not something you want to root for.”
‘Narcos: Mexico’ Season 2 is available for viewing on Netflix.
