The Wives of Rafael Caro-Quintero

“Socalj” for Borderland Beat

Diana Espinoza Aguilar, the beauty queen of Puente Grande prison.

Rafael Caro Quintero, “El Narco de Narcos”, has only two known wives: Diana Espinoza Aguilar, a former beauty queen and his last partner whom he met in Puente Grande prison; and María Elizabeth Elenes Lerma, his first wife, who is the mother of his four children.

Rafael Caro Quintero, “El Narco de Narcos” El Príncipe” or “Don Rafa” was arrested in 1985 in Costa Rica and immediately extradited to Mexico to be sentenced to 28 years in prison in 1989. His first years of the sentence were served in the “El Altiplano” prison.” and in 2007 he was transferred to Puente Grande.

There he met Diana Espinoza Aguilar after the capo caught her attention when he saw her for the first time on television in 2010. In fact, she was crowned beauty queen in the same prison where they were both held.

A TV host introduced them and they eventually ended up getting married and even having a child. However, in 2011 Diana Espinoza served her sentence and got out of jail before her capo did. “I get out of prison and I go to visit him. There we decided to have a son, who is later born as a result of our love. We had plans to start a family,” she declared in an interview for Proceso.

On more than one occasion she has publicly referred to him as “my husband”. Sources have indicated that they got married inside the prison, but there are no more details about the union. Shortly after the capo’s re-arrest on July 15 in the Sinaloa mountains, it was reported that “El Príncipe” was also facing two trials in the family courts in Jalisco. It was said that he had been required by the Sixth Family Court for an alimony claim, allegedly filed by Espinoza Aguilar.

But days later Aguilar herself came out to deny the rumors and clarified that it was a request for substitution of consent to process the passport in favor of their son. She clarified that there was never a demand for alimony.

“It is FALSE that there is a claim for child support by the undersigned DIANA ESPINOZA AGUILAR against my husband RAFAEL CARO QUINTERO; the truth is that the undersigned requested (…) the intervention of the judicial authority to replace the consent of the spouse in order to obtain the issuance of the Mexican passport of the still minor son, ”the document detailed.

Diana Aguilar told Proceso that the two did not have time to enjoy their life in freedom together, because shortly after Caro Quintero was released, in 2013, due to a procedural error, the authorities issued an arrest warrant again, forcing the capo to live the life of an outlaw for nearly a decade.

“He came saying he was happy. That finally, God had done justice and that we could already make a family (…) We both went into shock,” said the former beauty queen.

The only known, verified, photo of the first wife of RCQ, Maria Elizabeth Elenes Lerma.

RCQ’s First Wife

Very little is known about the drug trafficker’s first wife. Only two photographs are known. One was released by the US government and another in which the two allegedly appear at a party, although she is not completely distinguishable.

María Elizabeth Elenes was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, and in 2013 she was identified by US authorities as one of the main architects of a complex financial network that operated for “El Narco de Narcos”, in which she and the four children she had with drug trafficker operated as owners or administrators of a variety of companies in Guadalajara in the energy, hotel, and fashion industries, among others.

Elizabeth and her daughter, according to a report by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), would own one of the most expensive properties in Caro Quintero: a house valued at 10 million pesos. Both were also identified as the owners of a spa called “Las Limas”, located two hours from Guadalajara, on a farm with 15 rooms that were rented for 4,500 pesos per night.

According to the United States Department of the Treasury, the sons of the Sinaloan capo are identified as Héctor Rafael Caro Elenes, who was born in 1975; Roxanne Elizabeth, from 1978; Henoch Emilio, 1980; and Mario Yibrán, 1983.

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