"La China" and her "Traitor" boyfriend

The reign of terror of Melissa Margarita Calderon Ojeda ‘La China’, one of the few women who has gained notoriety in the drug trafficking world, collapsed as she was about to board a plane to leave the state of Baja California Sur. She was betrayed by her boyfriend Hector Gomez Pedro Camarena ‘El Chino’, arrested last July.

Calderon Ojeda (responsible for the deaths of about 170 people) was in charge of “Los Damaso” special forces of the Sinaloa cartel, for a couple of years but became independent when she was demoted and decided to form her own criminal organization.

‘La China’ declared war on their former employers and partners, and tried to take control of La Paz and then Los Cabos. With “La China” as the boss, ‘El Chino’ took the role of second in command; Sergio ‘The Scar’ Beltran became chief of assassins; Rogelio ‘Tyson’ Franco was responsible for logistics, and Peter ‘Peter’ Cisneros was appointed head of sales of narcotics and to disposed the bodies of enemies.

 Rogelio ‘El Tyson’ Franco, Sergio ‘The Scar’ Beltran and Pedro “Peter” Cisneros, suspected assassins working for “La China”. Photos: PGR

After being sought for years, Calderon Ojeda, who became known for kidnapping victims and dismembering their bodies, was apprehended on Saturday 19. Since the capture of her boyfriend Pedro Héctor Gómez Camarena, the most feared woman was cornered by authorities, she was surrounded when she tried to flee from Baja California Sur from an aerodrome in Cabo San Lucas.

With a reputation forged in blood and gun fire, “the most powerful female drug trafficker in Mexico” could no longer escape. Her reign of terror fell from a betrayal of her boyfriend, who negotiated better terms with the authorities and deliver her on a silver platter. However, Secretary of Government of Baja California Sur, Alvaro de la Peña, said that they found Melissa “by sharing intelligence information.”

Her capture was made “in a totally clean way, without guns, without any shot fire,” he boasted.

In exchange for a reduced sentence, ‘El Chino’ not only gave his partner, he also revealed details of how the organization worked under her and revealed the location of the “secret cemetery”, where they had hidden the bodies of their victims.

Security forces arrived to the unmarked graves of the contract killer, where they found two men and three women buried in the community of El Comitan, north of La Paz.

According to his statement, the gunman “did not remember the exact location of the graves”, but stated that the responsibility to dig graves and bury the victims was at the hands of Silva Pedro Cisneros ‘Peter’ or ‘El Chapo’, to whom he described as: “50 years old, slim build, fair complexion, short hair and approximately 1.50 meters in height.”

During questioning, he revealed that in the underworld he will also used the names of “Edgar Leonel Meraz Felix” and / or “Edgar Leonel Palacios”, and even offered two addresses of safe houses of his accomplice, whom he identified as the “enterrador” (“gravedigger”).

The first addresses was corresponding to the street of San Ramon and Santa Isabel in colonia Santa Fe and the second at Bahía de La Paz in colonia Fovissste de La Paz.

The criminal gave key information about criminal links and networks of ‘La China’ with the municipal and state police and said that even police agents are involved in the criminal organization.

And so “La China” was arrested, whom the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who escaped on July 31 from a maximum security prison  Altiplano, had great confidence and had put her in command of his henchmen, but the alliance finally broke.

Melissa Margarita Calderon Ojeda is in the process of being interrogated in Mexico City and next year she will stand trial for more than 150 murders she allegedly committed herself.

This article was translated from Proceso