The Serie Griselda, from Netflix, narrates in detail the life of one of the most violent drug traffickers in the history of Colombia. Specifically, how it became a bridge between the cities of Medellín and Miami, in the middle of a drug war. By then, the 1980s were passing and the moment was the bloodiest of a confrontation between two fronts. On the one hand, the Colombian cartels seeking to control the trafficking and distribution of narcotics in Latin America. At the other extreme, the battle in Miami to gain control of the area.
Griselda Blanco (played in fiction by Sofía Vergara), managed to stay standing in the midst of the situation and make profits. Much more, building a criminal empire so gigantic as to rival any older one. As time went by, the criminal became the leader of a criminal structure capable of not only allowing trafficking from one side of the border to the other. At the same time, to dominate and destroy smaller bands that tried to dispute drug sales activities, as well as what is related to their leadership between organizations.
The series tells all of the above in a fictional tone. But some of its main events are real and are part of the tragic chronicle of a particularly violent moment in Colombia. We tell you what the three real-life crimes are, which are told in the plot. At the same time, how the plot integrated them to analyze the life of a woman turned into a sad myth due to her brutality and bloodthirsty nature.
The black widow
At different times in the series, the character is called The Black Widow, due to several murders committed against her romantic partners. This is a real event. Griselda Blanco ran away from her home after being sexually assaulted by her stepfather. At age 19 she met her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, father of three of her children. This was a serious criminal, from whom Griselda ended up fleeing in the middle of a violent situation. But first, she confronted him and seriously injured him. What became part of the rumors surrounding the drug trafficker.
Now, a decade later, the criminal met Alberto Bravo, whom she murdered through a hitman after discovering he was cheating on her. But beyond the idea of a sentimental event, it was a means of damage control to prevent the man from selling or exchanging data about his criminal organization. Which led her to decide to kill him before they could separate and provoke an even more complicated fissure between the various cartels in dispute in Medellín.
Finally, Griselda had a romantic relationship with Darío Sepúlveda, whom she would also have murdered once they separated. According to Blanco’s version, she would do it to avoid disputing custody of the child they conceived during the relationship. But various sources, including a DEA report, insists that the crime was an attempt by the drug trafficker to avoid a territorial confrontation.
Federal charges against Griselda Blanco
Although the series does not expressly mention the Medellín cartels, it does focus on the idea that Blanco had to make his way in Miami in the midst of violence. In the first and second chapters, you can see the character played by Sofía Vergara, fleeing from her first husband. Which led her to North America and try to find a place in the country’s Latin criminal world.
Although all of the above happened to a lesser or greater extent, the most interesting thing is what will be the central point of the real story of Griselda Blanco. The fact that she sold drugs in Miami and facilitated the sale between the city and visitors from Medellín was the trigger for the criminal case against her. In 1975, Blanco was formally charged with one count of conspiracy to sell drugs. That, along with 30 subordinates. What became the largest and most significant casehandled by the DEA on probable cause of drug trafficking.
The ‘Cocaine Cowboys Wars’ or the war between gangs
With six episodes, the series tries to tell an essentially complex and extensive story, at its best known points. One of them was the war between gangs that turned Blanco into the center of every Colombian criminal operation in North America. The production shows the real story – although with altered dates and places – that led the drug trafficker to become a figure of care. Little by little, from trying to sell a shipment of cocaine to a criminal in Miami, the character extends his influence at all levels.
But beyond that, it became the center of all types of violent situations that established it as a leader of the criminal world. That, while an increasingly brutal and bloody war was going on around her, which left hundreds of victims in its wake. A real event that the plot tells by recreating some of the crudest murders ordered by Griselda and also, her implacable character.