Silvia Raquenel Villanueva, Celebrated Mexican Drug Lawyer, Shot Dead In Monterrey

Silvia Raquenel Villanueva had been shot more times than 50 Cent over the past decade or so, but it never kept her from continuing her work defending drug lords in Mexico. But the celebrated narco abogado’s luck finally ran out Sunday night in Monterrey, and now she is dead at the age of 55.

Villanueva thought of herself as “a lawyer for people who really need one,” often choosing to defend lower-level traffickers and cops because big-time traffickers had the money to buy off government officials. Her legend grew after surviving four separate attempts on her life, with no less than six songs (with titles like “The Bulletproof Lawyer”) written in her honor. Here’s a video by Beto Quintanilla, depicting an incident from 2000 in which she was shot eight times in her own office, but still survived.

She displayed a great deal of spirituality and fatalism about her calling, telling the New York Times, “God has put me in the eye of the hurricane. The people I defend could be the worst of the worst or they could be innocent.” To that end, she kept her office filled with candles and crosses from her various clients. Her time in the hurricane was made all the more dangerous by the fact that she didn’t really pick sides in the drug wars, angering various cartels along the way by defending their enemies. There are literally dozens of possible suspects in her murder.

Some, particularly in the Mexican government, just saw her as part of the evil drug machine. Which, who knows — perhaps she was. But when you really think about it, civilization and justice are at their finest when even the worst of the worst can still get a fighting chance in a court of law. Of course, that’s much rosier in theory than in actuality, and that’s the point. It’s thankless, dangerous work, and more likely than not you’ll wind up a casualty like Ms. Villanueva, but somebody has to do it. Hopefully that next somebody won’t end up on the same gruesome path.

Protecting Herself as Much as Her Drug Lord Clients [NY Times]
Mexico Lawyer Who Defended Drug Traffickers Is Shot Dead [NY Times]