[1] She sold television sets and radios to Panama before she was hired by Luis Arce Gómez to smuggle drugs.
[2] She was imprisoned in La Paz under the presidency of Lidia Gueiler Tejada, but for a short period.
Atala was protected by an enforcer group made of Neo-Nazi mercenaries trained by Klaus Barbie.
In the mid-1980s, a period where Atala grew too powerful, the Bolivian narco government betrayed her during a cocaine deal with the Medellin Cartel.
[7] Atala was present as a key witness at the trial of Luis Arce Gomez, who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, and received a lighter sentence in return for incriminating information.