For Money and Love: Women’s Narratives about Becoming Mules

Abstract

Amanda was ten months from the end of a four-year sentence when I interviewed her about the circumstances that led to her involvement in the international cocaine trade. She was in her late twenties, Latina (but grew up in North America), and was living in one of the newest pavilions of El Inca. This was our third interview. We had agreed to talk about the trafficking part of her story, and she began by reading me a short passage written in her journal:

I was with my children’s father since the age of 13 […] and had my son at 15, my twins at 19, and my other son at 23. […] So [he] was the first man in my life. He took my virginity, and I have my kids from him. I guess I could say I watch ‘Little House on the Prairie’ too much, cause I’m like, you know, I didn’t marry him, but he took my virginity, so that calls for me to stay with him no matter what. Even though he put me through hell. I would work; I would do so many things and on top of that, hustle the system to get extra money.