Martha Ochoa: the inspiration behind the character of the Griselda Blanco series

The new Netflix series about Griselda Blanco puts women at the center of the story.

In addition to having The Queen of Cocaine as the protagonist,

presents characters such as the reformed drug trafficker Carmen Gutiérrez, the police officer June Hawkins and Martha Ochoa, a member of one of the most powerful dynasties of organized crime.

In the plot it is explained that she is the cousin of the Ochoa Vázquez brothers—founding members of the Medellín Cartel—and it is her intense lifestyle that triggers the decline of Blanco's empire, at least in the platform version of

.

The character played by Julieth Restrepo (Medellín, 37 years old) is inspired by Martha Saldarriaga Ochoa, who was much more than a frivolous young woman with a taste for excess, as she is portrayed in the series.

In reality, Saldarriaga directed an international drug trafficking and money laundering operation from Miami.

According to the book

, by journalist Martha Soto, the woman had the protection of her powerful relatives, the brothers Jorge Luis, Fabio and Juan David Ochoa Vázquez, so despite being in the crosshairs of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was never convicted of its criminal activities.

Martha Saldarriaga Ochoa agreed to work with Griselda Blanco after hearing other drug traffickers talk about her success.

“Both moved dozens of loads in private small planes using mules, which Martha hired and paid for, and then passed the bill to Griselda Blanco,” Soto explains in his investigation.

This partnership ended on bad terms, since Blanco's debt when she was detained by US authorities amounted to $1.5 million, and La Madrina did not like that Saldarriaga was pressuring her to pay.

To get rid of this problem, Blanco orchestrated an attack from prison, which caused many of his allies to defect for fear of going against the Ochoa Clan.

Even so, Martha Saldarriaga Ochoa was shot to death in 1986. It is said that her body was left for everyone to see as a message to the enemies of The Cocaine Queen.

It is not documented if there was immediate retribution from the Ochoa family, but Griselda Blanco spent her final years trying to keep a low profile to hide from the former kingpins, in case they were still seeking revenge.

The Ochoa family

The interest in knowing more about the characters that appear in Griselda has caused some confusion, since the Ochoas also had a sister with the same name.

The story of Martha Nieves Ochoa Vásquez has not been picked up by Netflix, at least for now.

The youngest of the Ochoas was kidnapped by an M-19 cell at the end of 1981, when she was leaving university, but her family refused to pay the ransom to the guerrillas.

Instead, the Ochoas bought space in the newspaper to announce that they were not going to negotiate with the kidnappers and offered a reward of 25 million pesos (about $500,000 at the time) in exchange for information from the public about their whereabouts.

This case also resulted in the creation of the group Muerte A Secuestradores (MAS), a precursor of paramilitarism in Colombia.

Jorge Luis, Fabio and Juan David summoned the other members of the Medellín Cartel—including Pablo Escobar—to ask for their help, so they recruited and financed nearly 2,000 armed men who were in charge of protecting their families from the guerrillas and rescue Martha Nieves.

The liberation took place on February 17, 1982, but this kidnapping marked the beginning of a cruel war between the MAS and its enemies, a confrontation that quickly became a security problem for the Government.

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