Griselda Blanco is the ‘Cocaine Godmother’

‘Cocaine Godmother’ is the story of Griselda Blanco, one of the most dangerous women on earth. Her name is hardly recognised, but in the drug world, she was a historic figure who pulled off some of the most skilful schemes to peddle cocaine. The late Colombian drug lord was nicknamed the ‘Black Widow’, and for good reason – she was responsible for over 200 deaths.

Although she was born in Carragen, Colombia, ‘Cocaine Godmother’ begins when she was living in Medellín, Colombia, a town made famous by Pablo Escobar. There, she was raised in poverty and sold as a child prostitute by her abusive mother. It was also where she committed her first murder. Soon, she flees after an argument with her mother and finds a way to the United States, where she starts a new life.

They say Miami is a premier drug hub – situated by the ocean where sea-based transportation carefully avoids the authorities and delivers drugs from Blanco’s home to various cities around the US – and back then, the market thrived.

Catherine Zeta-Jones takes on the role of Blanco, a mother of three who is tired of her first husband, Zulma Andino Trujillo, and instead starts an affair with drug lord Alberto Bravo, whom she meets after providing him with fake passports. Her life in the US was that of a small-time criminal who was a ‘natural’ at counterfeiting passports, and slowly descends into that of a full-time felon.

Bravo certainly keeps her busy until she shares details with him about transporting drugs through “pretty women, models even” by sewing cocaine packets into bras, including herself. Her husband disapproves of their partnership and abuses her, but she leaves him and starts a relationship with a woman named Carolina, who ends up at her side for years to come.

Blanco later teams up with Escobar. Their business does well and she becomes the queen of drug trade, with her children also falling into a life of crime. Other than the usual drugs and murders, ‘Cocaine Godmother’ also involves kidnappings, addiction and the fast life.

It’s not a story that will leave you in admiration of Blanco – the glamourisation of crime gets real old real quick – and it’s not surprising that the film didn’t do too well due to Hollywood’s ‘white washing’.

Zeta-Jones does an average job with her role, leaving one to question her true ethnicity throughout the film, which sadly overshadows the viewer’s need to understand Blanco story; something that would have worked better had a Latin woman played the role. Taking this into consideration, Hollywood is making another adaptation titled ‘The Godmother’, with Jennifer Lopez as the lead.

Blanco’s life has been adapted to film several times, including by her son Michael Corleone. Here VH1 followed members of cartel families, or at least those who escaped the drug lifestyle in the US.

Watch ‘Cocaine Godmother’ on ShowMax.

– @MickeyNekomba on social media

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