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Edition: U.S. Article Save Email Print Reprints Most Popular Most Shared In blow to Obama, Republican wins in Massachusetts 1:44am EST Senate not seen passing climate bill in 2010 19 Jan 2010 NEWSMAKER-Baidu founder rules China's Web with pragmatism 19 Jan 2010 Q+A: What the Massachusetts upset means to Obama agenda 19 Jan 2010 Iran spurns nuclear fuel deal in writing: diplomats 19 Jan 2010 In blow to Obama, Republican wins in Massachusetts 1:44am EST SPECIAL REPORT:Divorce American style for French bank, bond star 19 Jan 2010 Out go drinking games in booze crackdown 19 Jan 2010 U.S. spy agencies see Iran pushing atom bomb research 19 Jan 2010 Fish oil protects against cellular aging: study 19 Jan 2010 Mexico's drug war leaves a generation of narco widows Catherine Bremer ARTEAGA, Mexico Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:30am EST Related News Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network Wed, Jan 13 2010 ARTEAGA, Mexico (Reuters) - Deep in western Mexico's sun-baked marijuana hills, where the presence of drug gangs hangs heavy in the air, Norma Bello and her five children live in a tatty storeroom since her husband was knifed to death and her eldest son jailed over a narco slaying. World | Mexico Her eerily quiet town, Arteaga, sits in the shadow of a top drug lord's ranch in Michoacan state and Bello sleeps fitfully, reliving the night armed police kicked down her door and slashed grain sacks looking for cocaine. In the nearby city of Uruapan, Isandra, 45, has battled to build a life for her kids away from the drug world that turned her husband into a womanizing coke-head and eventually killed him. Behind the daily toll of drug murders, thousands of "narco widows", along with mothers, sisters and children, are paying dearly for a trade that has killed some 17,000 people in three years, the vast majority healthy young men. "We are the ones who suffer," said Bello, 38, whose son is accused of working for the "La Familia" gang and taking part in the 2009 slaying of 12 police officers whose bound and partly stripped bodies were dumped by a road in a bloodied heap. In Michoacan, where opium and marijuana have been grown for decades and corrupt former governments let smuggling flourish, poverty drives young men to work as cartel lookouts, informants and runners. Increasingly, many end up dead or in jail. For every gruesome news photo of a hacked-up corpse or severed human head there is at least one woman, often several, left with her life in pieces. Some are women who entered the narco world as teenage beauties brought to adorn drug ranch parties. The crackdown has also put some 80,000 suspected drug gang members behind bars, many of whom are beaten into confessions. Bello's jailed son Evaristo, 20, was the main breadwinner since her husband was murdered a few years ago and his body dumped on a train track. "I am all alone. I'm frightened, I'm scared to go to sleep, but who am I going to complain to?" Bello said. TRAPPED FOR LIFE Since President Felipe Calderon launched a nationwide army crackdown on drug cartels in late 2006, turf wars between rival gangs have exploded, alarming the U.S. government, foreign investors and tourists. After a recent slaying in Michoacan, the mothers of two of the victims sped to the crime scene, hauled all nine corpses into the back of their van and drove them off for a private wake without waiting for the authorities to file a report. In December, revenge-seeking gunmen stormed into the home of a marine named a hero hours before at his funeral after he died during a drug raid. They murdered his grieving mother, aunt and two siblings in a spray of bullets. The wives or girlfriends of fallen drug traffickers must choose either to stay under cartel control and enjoy a few more years of drug money, or flee and keep a low profile. The luckiest hang on to any property, cars, jewels or bank accounts their erstwhile partner had kept in their name. Others have fled as far as the United States and Peru, drug experts say, sometimes using undercover safe houses that shelter women escaping domestic and other violence. "We suffer the consequences of our menfolk getting into this," said Isandra, a striking-looking woman with large black eyes whose husband headed a marijuana-trafficking cell in the 1990s. He flew the drug from Michoacan up to Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border, aided by corrupt Mexican customs officials. Isandra married him at 16 but left him at 32 and used nursing and barmaid jobs to put her kids through school and higher education as he sank deeper into a drug kingpin lifestyle. His addiction to cocaine and hard liquor eventually destroyed his internal organs, according to his co-smugglers. She was barely in touch with him when she received a chilling phone call to say he was dead and his body was being flown to his family home in the city of Guadalajara. "The drug world makes men selfish. My husband spent all his money on other women, I had to fend for myself," Isandra said. "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." COOKS TO COCKROACHES La Familia, a cultish bible-thumping drug cartel that forbids its members from consuming drugs and alcohol, is unusual in that it pays the widows of drug violence victims a monthly stipend. The cartel formally hires some women as informers or "cooks" who work in Michoacan's estimated 4,000 methamphetamine labs. Other widows hunker down with their in-laws or move on to a different lover in the same cartel, local experts say. "They get married very young and get used to the good life, so it's hard to leave," said Ana Maria Perez, an economic advisor for the Michoacan government. "But they suffer for it. They are treated badly and subjected to male machismo." Stories abound in north and western Mexico of girls who walked away with a lifetime of riches after being widowed young, but others are not so lucky, especially those who succumb to the temptation to get involved in the business. "Drug trafficking doesn't have the same stigma here as elsewhere. Young women in villages are very ignorant and get sucked in very easily," said a local government security official in Michoacan who asked not to be quoted by name. "But it is dangerous. They become harnessed, economically, and downtrodden. Often the guy will beat them one day then make it up the next by paying for some surgery." One of Mexico's most famous narco widows is Sandra Avila, dubbed "Queen of the Pacific", who was born into a family of drug smugglers and was twice widowed. A dark-haired beauty who graced Mexico City's finest restaurants, she owned crateloads of precious jewels, several luxury cars and seafront condominiums. Avila now dwells in a dank prison cell where she complains about bad food and cockroaches. (Editing by Claudia Parsons) World Mexico More from Reuters Obama targets "tax cheats" seeking government work WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will order federal agencies on Wednesday to take measures to prevent companies that are delinquent in paying taxes from obtaining new government contracts, the White House said. IBM raises outlook but investors wary after rally Unemployment to be high in U.S. cities thru 2013: study China leans on banks to curb lending, stocks drop U.S. makes banks pay premium for warrant rebuys: report Treasury delays first step in new capital rules » More Top News Haiti aid effort picks up A huge international relief operation, including 20 Black Hawk helicopters from the U.S., helped the aid efforts in Haiti gain momentum amid growing fears of disease. Full Article | Slideshow Doctors group says supplies diverted 3,500 more peacekeepers to go to Haiti Haiti's Preval: Survivor in turbulent land Natural Disasters Special Report: "The Godfather" bond star When it comes to big financial firms and their stars, divorces are often messy -- not to mention costly -- but few breakups have been quite as ugly as Jeffrey Gundlach's departure from TCW Group. Full Article Gundlach registers new funds Gundlach fires back after lawsuit Bonds © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Analyst Research Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Labs Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts.com Buyouts Europe: Buyouts Conferences: Venture Capital Journal ECVJ International Financing Review International Securitisation Report Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

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