For many women in Sinaloa, having the sexy body of a cartel boss’s wife is a dream. But many suffer from risky plastic surgery.

Paulina Ramírez García already had an idea of what her new look would look like when she visited a liposuction clinic in her city. She plans to shrink her stomach, then inject fat into her buttocks to get a slim and plump “Buchona” body.

In Mexico, the term “Buchona” is usually used as a nickname for the girlfriend or wife of a drug lord. Their beauty is like a top model, with perfect body curves. Any girl would be jealous of their flat stomach, small waist, and big chest.

“Many women in Sinaloa dream of marrying drug lords because they want a luxurious lifestyle,” said Isaac Tomas Guevara Martinez, a social psychologist who studies violence in Sinaloa state. Emma Coronel, wife of drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, is their role model.

However, Paulina doesn’t realize the place she chose is not an official clinic. The doctor who handles it is also not a plastic surgeon, but an ordinary general practitioner. The hope, by paying $ 2,000, she will get the ideal body, but what happened is the opposite. The 26-year-old woman ended up in the hospital due to complications. Based on information from the authorities and Paulina’s family, Dr. Amayrani Adilene Rodríguez Pérez perforated her internal organs, including the lungs and intestines, six times. This action causes septic shock.

During her three weeks in hospital, Paulina needed assistance with intubation. Photos received by Tressantosbaja showed the skin on his stomach had rotted away. She passed away on March 9, 22 days after liposuction.

Paulina’s family said Rodríguez Pérez did not want to take responsibility and never saw his nose. Even the doctor’s attorney is difficult to contact. He was arrested on first-degree murder charges, but later released on bail. His charges have even been reduced to manslaughter. Currently, Rodríguez Pérez is still waiting for a trial schedule in November.

The Buchona style has become something of a beauty trend on Instagram and TikTok. Women show off their beautiful bodies, while occasionally sharing their preparations before and after surgery. Paulina’s uncle, José Angel Angulo, revealed that his nephew is obsessed with having a body, as he often sees on social media. “It used to be that girl wanted to have a quinceañera (daughter of a king’s) birthday party, but now they prefer liposuction,” she says.

Randy Ross, a local public health official, said that over the past two years, there have been an increasing number of unlicensed plastic surgery clinics in Sinaloa. Following Paulina’s death, the government closed 24 ineligible clinics in early September. However, it is difficult to determine how many illegal clinics operate in the state, given that the practice is so secretive. Meanwhile, for places that have been registered, there are currently a total of 233 clinics.

When Tressantosbaja visited the Rodríguez Pérez clinic in the suburbs of Culiacán, all we saw was a plain white building with glass windows and doors. There was nothing striking about him. There is also no sign for the name of the clinic.

“This kind of clinic is hard to find because at first glance it looks like an ordinary house. People usually only know that the clinic exists after someone reports it,” Ross explained.

According to licensed surgeon Dr. Rafaela Martinez Terrazas, Paulina’s case is only the “tip of the iceberg”. She admits that she often treats patients with complications caused by fake cosmetic procedures. But sadly, the government has no data on the deaths associated with it. “Nobody knows how many women have died because of this,” she said.