Marllory Chacón Rossell, better known as the “Queen of the South,” is a Guatemalan drug trafficker accused of working with the Lorenzana Clan to help Mexican organized crime groups like the Zetas and Sinaloa Cartel traffic tons of cocaine into the United States.

After several years hidden in the shadows, Chacón turned herself in to US authorities in 2014. They accused her of being one of the most prolific money launders ever seen in Central America.

However, upon facing a maximum sentence of 26 years in prison, Chacón chose to cooperate with prosecutors and helped bring down various drug traffickers in Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. She was released from prison in 2019 after just five years behind bars.

In addition to her connections to drug traffickers, Chacón also rose to prominence due to her links to Guatemala’s political elite.

History

Chacón was born to a middle-class family in Guatemala’s Santa Rosa department. She studied psychology for three years at university, but later dropped out to start a textile factory. Although it’s unclear when exactly she started her criminal career, several journalistic investigations indicate that by 2003 she was already laundering money for at least three different Colombian crime networks and establishing herself as a trusted intermediary in the cocaine trade.

In 2004, Chacón started working for Waldemar Lorenza and other members of the Lorenzanas, according to testimony she provided in court. Little by little, she positioned herself as one of the region’s most prolific money launderers, according to the US Treasury Department.  

However, it wasn’t until 2012 that US authorities included her on their list of specially designated narcotics traffickers. The Treasury Department accused her of leading a drug trafficking and money laundering group with operations stretching from Guatemala to Honduras and Panama. 

After almost two years of constant travel and negotiations, Chacón flew to Miami, Florida and turned herself in to US authorities. In December 2014, she pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and was sentenced to 12 years in prison after initially facing 26 years.

If at first Guatemalan authorities claimed not to have any evidence of her criminal activity, in 2015, then-Interior Minister Mauricio López Bonilla said that Chacón faced several open investigations for drug trafficking at home. However, he did not provide any evidence to support the claims.

In February 2019, a US judge reduced her sentence to just five years as a result of a cooperation agreement she negotiated with prosecutors that required her assistance in arresting some of the region’s most sought after drug traffickers. Not only that, but Chacón also helped bring down certain Guatemalan officials, such as López Bonilla.

At the time, Chacón’s lawyer told reporters from Univisión that she had been ordered free on supervised release and was no longer in custody.

Criminal Activity

Early on in her criminal career, Chacón dedicated herself to laundering money for drug traffickers in Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. The Treasury Department once called her “the most active money launderer in Guatemala.”

She went on to diversify her criminal portfolio to include trafficking cocaine from Colombia to the United States, using certain Central American countries as transshipment points.

Chacón coordinated the reception, purchase, transport, and distribution of multi-ton cocaine shipments that were sent from Colombia, passed through Honduras and Guatemala, and trafficked into the United States, according to the Treasury Department.

Over the years, Chacón was not satisfied with just coordinating logistics. She later played an active role in trafficking multiple tons of cocaine into the United States alongside the Lorenzana brothers.

Geography

Chacón controlled a criminal network that specialized in laundering money and coordinating cocaine shipments through several countries in the region. While Guatemala City may have been her primary center of operations for many years, the network of contacts and logistics providers she used to launder money extended into Honduras and Panama.

According to court documents, Chacón counted on members of a sophisticated organization present in both Honduras and Guatemala, which allowed her to receive cocaine shipments from Colombia that were later distributed in Mexico and the United States.

Allies and Enemies

Chacón’s primary ally was her husband, a Honduran named Jorge Fernández Carbajal. He introduced Chacón to his criminal contacts in Colombia, according to a Connectas investigation.

Other associates of hers included the Colombian César Barrera, alias “Nigua,” as well as two Guatemalans named Hayron Borrayo Lasmibat and Mirza Hernández. The Treasury Department accused the latter two of belonging to Chacón’s vast criminal network.

In addition, she worked with the Colombian trafficker Daniel “El Loco” Barrera, Guatemalan traffickers Eliú and Waldemar Lorenzana, as well as the Zetas and Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. However, after Chacón turned herself in to US authorities, the information she provided allegedly led to the capture of Barrera. She also testified in the trial against members of the Lorenza Clan.

That said, her contacts extended beyond the world of drug trafficking and into Guatemala’s political elites. Various journalist investigations revealed alleged links between Chacón and former President Otto Pérez Molina and ex-Vice President Roxana Baldetti. The reports even alleged Chacón and her associates possibly provided political contributions to their election campaign.

Chacón was also tied to López Bonilla, the former interior minister. He allegedly protected her and shielded her from prosecution in Guatemala by not cooperating with US anti-drug agents as they tried to arrest her. However, Chacón would later provide prosecutors in the United States with important information against Bonilla when she decided to turn herself in 2014.

Finally, Chacón also had connections to the religious leader Carlos Enrique Luna, also known as “Cash Luna.” Guatemalan news reports alleged that he was Chacón’s right-hand man and that his church received large sums of money that came from her criminal activity.

Prospects

It’s clear that Chacón’s cooperation with US authorities was crucial, not only because she received a substantial reduction to her prison sentence, but also because it helped her get removed from the Treasury Department’s blacklist.

That said, after she was released from prison in 2019, very little public information has come out about her and her current whereabouts.