Riding in a black SUV with tinted windows, lawyer Mariel Col贸n rolls up to the gates of a remote mansion, strolling past a security guard side-by-side with Emma Coronel, the wife of notorious drug lord Joaqu铆n 鈥淓l Chapo鈥 Guzm谩n
Sporting suits and sunglasses, the pair stride into a dimly lit room full of slickly dressed men smoking cigars.
All to the roar of trumpets.
The scene is from 鈥淟a Se帽ora,鈥 the latest music video from Col贸n, who spent several years working as a defense lawyer for Guzm谩n while he faced trial in a U.S. court. Now, at a time when regional Mexican music is becoming a global phenomenon, the 31-year-old is leveraging her association with the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel to launch her music career under the stage name of 鈥淢ariel La Abogada鈥 (Mariel, the Lawyer).
鈥淟a Se帽ora鈥 features 鈥 and pays tribute to 鈥 Guzm谩n鈥檚 wife, who was released from prison last year and has struggled to find work. It paved the way for the two to model together last weekend during Milan Fashion Week, raising eyebrows in Italy and beyond.
鈥(My work) opens doors for me because of the morbid, because of people鈥檚 curiosity 鈥 They want to understand this,鈥 Col贸n told The Associated Press. 鈥淚鈥檝e always told people that Mariel is a singer who became a lawyer.鈥
The Puerto Rican daughter of a music director grew up listening to Mexican ballads, loving the brokenhearted passion infused in the music. She always wanted to be a singer, but her family pushed her to pursue a law degree.
Emma Coronel, center, and lawyer Mariel Col贸n leave a federal court, in New York, Jan. 17, 2019, after attending the trial of Coronel's husband Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen, File)
She began working for Guzm谩n's defense team in 2018 after graduating from law school in the U.S. and stumbling upon a Craigslist ad seeking a part-time paralegal to help prepare a Spanish-speaking client for trial.
It was only later that she learned she would be working with Guzm谩n, taking him and Coronel as clients full time. She saw it as a 鈥済reat opportunity professionally鈥 and said she wasn't easily intimidated.
Once among the most wanted men in the world, Guzm谩n led his Sinaloa Cartel in a bloody war for control of the international drug trade, gaining a cinematic level of notoriety for his dramatic prison escapes before his extradition to the U.S. in 2017. Now his sons, known as 鈥淟os Chapitos,鈥 are locked in a deadly power struggle with another faction of the cartel, leaving mutilated bodies around the state capital.
鈥(People ask) how I can do this job, that I鈥檓 part of the mafia, how can I sleep at night?鈥 Col贸n said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care what they say about me. I sleep very well at night.鈥
Col贸n is one of few people who maintain regular contact with Guzm谩n. She visits him three times a month in the maximum security prison in Colorado where he's serving a life sentence. She declined to discuss details of Guzm谩n鈥檚 cases, citing attorney-client privilege.
Seeking to build a rapport, Col贸n sings to Guzm谩n and other clients, who have included other Mexican drug traffickers and, for a brief time, Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Col贸n serenades Guzm谩n with Mexican classics from bands including Los Alegres del Barranco and Tucanes de Tijuana. To this day, she said, he's among the first to hear her new music.
鈥淲hatever genre, anything that was coming out that I liked, I would sing it to him because he doesn鈥檛 have a radio,鈥 she said.
Her musical career began little more than a year ago, when she released her first video, 鈥淟a Abogada,鈥 which features Col贸n dressed in a pink suit, crooning to law enforcement from a courtroom. Like much of the genre, her music is diverse, ranging from percussion-heavy banda to character-focused ballads known as corridos.
鈥淟a Se帽ora鈥 features a table sprinkled with diamonds, Guzm谩n鈥檚 wife astride a trotting horse and strolling beside a pool.
Col贸n said the song was based on Coronel鈥檚 life, sending a message of redemption and second chances. It was also a way to offer the 35-year-old work, a condition of her probation.
Coronel, a former beauty queen, was released from prison last year after completing her three-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering in relation to her husband鈥檚 drug empire. Coronel declined to be interviewed.
鈥淎 small waist and beautiful eyes. A brain for business and a strong voice for the bad boys. She only shows her affectionate side to El Chaparrito,鈥 Col贸n belts out in her ballad. 鈥淓l Chaparrito,鈥 meaning 鈥渢he little shorty,鈥 plays with Guzm谩n鈥檚 nickname.
A handcuffed Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is made to face the press as he is escorted to a helicopter by Mexican soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico City, Jan. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
Col贸n's musical rise coincides with a relative golden age of Mexican music, which grew 400% worldwide over the last five years on Spotify. In 2023, Mexican artist Peso Pluma bested Taylor Swift as the most streamed artist on YouTube.
While corridos have dominated for more than a century, young artists have filled stadiums by twisting the style on its head, mixing classic ballads with trap in corridos tumbados.
But it also cuts to the heart of a larger debate: Does the music capture the realities facing many Mexicans or does it glorify the narco-violence long plaguing the Latin American nation?
Narco culture has long been part of corridos, with many singers idealizing traffickers as 鈥渁n aspirational figure going against the system,鈥 said Rafael Sald铆var, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Baja California.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e cultural expressions speaking to the realities of the country,鈥 Sald铆var said. But 鈥渋n a way they glorify these criminals, or do so in a way where some feel it鈥檚 pushing this kind of lifestyle.鈥
A classic example: king of corridos Chalino S谩nchez used the violence around him in Sinaloa to spin lyrics while also calling out the 鈥淪inaloa gang鈥 for torturing and killing innocents. He was shot dead at a performance in the state's capital in 1992.
Last year, Peso Pluma 鈥 who paid homage to Guzm谩n in songs 鈥 was forced to cancel a show in Tijuana after the 25-year-old received threats from a rival of the Sinaloa Cartel that if he came it 鈥渨ould be your last performance.鈥
Later, Tijuana banned the performance of narco ballads altogether to protect 鈥渢he eyes and ears鈥 of youths as it tries to contain violence. Local authorities in northern states previously banned musicians singing narcocorridos.
Col贸n, who hasn't gone so far as to glorify arms or drugs, is quick to defend narcocorridos.
鈥淭here's a reason why Netflix did the 鈥楴arcos鈥 show, it's because there's an audience for it. It intrigues people,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檙e applauding or celebrating what this person did, but they do have a sort of admiration for this person or this person鈥檚 life. Not everything is violence. These people have hearts, they have families.鈥
While Col贸n plans to put out her first record in December, Coronel has leveraged 鈥淟a Se帽ora鈥 to launch her career as a model and social media influencer.
April Black Diamond, the designer who asked Coronel and Col贸n to model in a side event during Milan Fashion Week, said her choice was met with 鈥渟hock.鈥
鈥淧eople evolve. My platform isn鈥檛 about judgment but about showing different dimensions of women, their strength, and resilience,鈥 she wrote in a statement. The next day, photos of Coronel in one of the designer鈥檚 dresses appeared plastered on a billboard in New York's Times Square.
On Wednesday, Italy's National Fashion Chamber issued an 鈥渦rgent鈥 press release saying the show wasn't affiliated with official fashion week events and that brands need to follow its code of ethics.
Meanwhile, eyes on Col贸n and Coronel's video continue to grow, clocking around 750,000 views on YouTube.
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