Yovanna Guzman
Yovanna Guzman, a former beauty queen and model, with a mane of blond hair and a pneumatic figure — a sure passport into the narco underworld where cup size is more important than IQ.
For eight years, she was the lover of one of Colombia’s most ruthless cocaine traffickers, Wilber Varela. He was head of the North Valle Cartel.
“He had two faces. I saw him so tender with the ones he loved, then you see the cartel killings. He always said he was the best of friends and the worst of enemies,” Guzman said during an interview in Bogota.
The Colombian government accused Varela of running tons of cocaine to the United States via Central America in go-fast speedboats and to Europe in small jets.
Authorities put a $5 million bounty on his head. He gained a reputation for brutality during a yearslong dispute with a splinter faction of the same cartel, led by Diego Montoya, who until his capture in 2007 was listed alongside Osama bin Laden on the FBI’s list of the 10 most-wanted fugitives.
Guzman was 19 when she met Varela. He told her he was a cattle rancher. She didn’t ask questions and said she only found out the truth when she saw a Wanted poster with her boyfriend’s mug shot.