María Antonieta Rodríguez Mata (born 21 June 1969) is a Mexican former police officer and convicted drug lord.
In the late 1990s, she became involved with the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico, after being hired to work under the kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.
[1] She moved to Saltillo, Coahuila, for high school and returned to Reynosa to study law at the Universidad Valle de Bravo.
[4] On 27 October 1995, Rodríguez Mata and state police officer Mario Alberto Cárdenas Gutiérrez arrested U.S.-born national Gerardo Ramírez Olvera inside the Fiesta Mexicana nightclub in Reynosa and reportedly transported him illegally in a police car to the U.S., where he had outstanding criminal charges.
At the time of his arrest, Ramírez Olvera was reportedly not shown any official documentation indicating that the Mexican police had the legal authority to arrest him; the CNDH suspects that Reynosa customs agents may have been involved in the scheme as well, and that Rodríguez Mata and Cárdenas Gutiérrez were likely paid by the FBI agents to capture and illegally transport Ramírez Olvera to the U.S. without proper legal authorization.
The details of Ramírez Olvera's case were based on information from Juan Gutiérrez González, a friend and eyewitness, and María del Rosario Segura, the victim's wife.
The FBI reportedly confirmed that Ramírez Olvera was wanted on marijuana possession, drug conspiracy and money laundering charges.
[7] Tamaulipas attorney general César Ceballos Blanco said that Ramírez Olvera's family made up the story after the Mexican police arrested him for residing in Mexico illegally.
[10] FBI supervisor Rogelio de la Garza also backed up the state police's story by saying that Rodríguez Mata and Cárdenas Gutiérrez acted professionally.
[7] De la Garza also said Rodríguez Mata and Cárdenas Gutiérrez were never paid by the FBI and that the story was fabricated deliberately to hinder U.S.–Mexico relations.
She said that an agent from the Tamaulipas State Police did show up early the day after Ramírez Olvera's arrest and was given a sealed envelope with paperwork on illegal aliens in Mexico.
[7] The CNDH believes this and other contradictions highlight the culpability of Rodríguez Mata and the state police in the arbitrary arrest and expulsion of Ramírez Olvera.
[8] When Rodríguez Mata was in the Tamaulipas State Police, she also protected the criminal activities of the Gulf Cartel kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.
[12] According to investigators, she was brought into the Gulf Cartel by a senior member, Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa ("El Caramuela"), who had also served alongside her in the state police.
[16] In the cartel, Rodríguez Mata was assigned to manage an international narcotics ring from Colombia and Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border with Texas.
[1] The drugs she supervised were transported by land and guarded by corrupt members of the Tamaulipas State Police, some of whom she had worked with previously.
[11] Rodríguez Mata worked closely with Zetas member Rogelio González Pizaña ("El Kelín"), who served as her intermediary in Veracruz.
The drugs were then redistributed through different locations in the U.S. interior, including to the states of California, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois and New York.
Outside of her organized crime career, she also ran multiple businesses, including auto repair shops, restaurants, real estate leasing agencies, and a fish farming company.
[1] Rodríguez Mata is a particularly unusual figure in organized crime circles, given her involvement in a leadership position in the male-dominated Mexican drug trafficking industry.
[11] The arrest was conducted in response to a U.S. extradition request;[22] Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) confirmed that Rodríguez Mata was indeed a high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel and that she was wanted in the U.S. for drug trafficking.
[11] On 8 February,[25] Rodríguez Mata was transferred from Monterrey to Mexico City and imprisoned at the Reclusorio Preventivo Femenil Norte, a women's prison, and placed under the jurisdiction of a penal judge.
[18] In early 2008, Rodríguez Mata pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking related to shipments from northern Mexico to New York.
[33] On 3 October 2008, she was sentenced to 102 months (eight and a half years) in a U.S. federal prison for her leadership role in an international drug trafficking and money laundering organization.