Yessica Borroto will act in the third season of Netflix's Narco series

November 12, 2021

The Netflix network began broadcasting on November 5 the final season of the popular series "Narcos", this time focused on the 90s, following the imprisonment of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, and amid a war between cartels to seize the drug business in Mexico.

Throughout its ten episodes, the series narrates the rise to power of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as "The Lord of the Skies", who was leader of the so-called Juárez Cartel.

For Cuban viewers, this new season of the series has a special appeal, since one of its supporting characters is Carrillo Fuentes' Cuban girlfriend, Marta Venus Cáceres, portrayed by Cuban actress Yessica Borroto. Several episodes of the new installment also take place in Havana.

Cáceres, portrayed by Cuban actress and model Yessica Borroto, was identified by the Cuban government as one of the romantic relationships of the "Lord of the Skies", who frequently traveled to the island to see her.

According to information that the Cuban government delivered in 1997 to the then Attorney General's Office of the Mexican Republic, "Carrillo Fuentes was romantically involved with Cuban citizen Marta Venus Cáceres", although she did not know the true identity of the drug trafficker, who called himself Juan Antonio Arriaga. For many, he was simply a Mexican tourist with high purchasing power, known by the nickname "El Patroncito".

In the plot of this new season, Marta meets the drug trafficker in a luxury hotel in Havana, where she is a pianist. It is Carrillo Fuentes who approaches her and, from then on, whenever Amado visits the island he spends time with her. The relationship grows, and the narco even takes her off the island and gives her a property in Chile.

What appears in the series does not seem to be far from reality.

According to Bernal, Carrillo rented a hotel room in Havana and a house in a residential neighborhood of the city where he spent long periods with his friend.

Yessica Borroto, who portrays Marta Cáceres in "Narcos", is a 29-year-old Cuban actress and model. She has been a model for Channel, Puma, Lambertz, Dey and Cuban brands such as Clandestina and Prietos' Style. Her face appears increasingly often in Cuban TV series and music videos. According to Vistar magazine, she is one of the most sought-after models in the Cuban industry.

She had previously acted in the Italian film Non è un Paese per Giovani (2017) and in the series Four Seasons in Havana (2016), also by Netflix. Additionally, her film Sound of Freedom (2022) is about to premiere.

According to her biography available on the internet, Borroto was born in Havana in 1992, and her full name is Yessica Borroto Perryman. In addition to actress and model, she is a presenter and singer.

One of the storylines explored in the new season of the series are the numerous doubts about Carrillo Fuentes' death in July 1997, supposedly in an operating room when he was attempting to undergo plastic surgery.

Someone arrived at Hospital Santa Mónica, located in Polanco, one of the most exclusive areas of Mexico City, under the name of Antonio Flores Montes to undergo surgical intervention by a renowned Colombian doctor: Ricardo Reyes.

The doctor knew that his patient was actually Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who allegedly died during the operation "due to the residual presence of anesthetic-type pharmacological agents", according to the autopsy report released at the time.

His death was declared at 6 in the morning, in room 407, where Amado was completely alone.

The next day, his body was transferred to Funeraria García López, one of the most exclusive funeral homes in the Mexican capital, which would be in charge of transferring the body to Culiacán and then to Badiraguato.

His death certificate, at Hospital Santa Mónica, was under the false name Antonio Flores Montes.

That same afternoon the PGR announced in a statement that "The Lord of the Skies" had died. The information was endorsed by the DEA.

The official version notes that a heart attack occurred after eight hours of surgery, but there were witnesses who claimed that the drug trafficker had left the operating room alive.

His body was displayed publicly a week later, in the coffin. A mustache protruded from his face that raised suspicions, given that someone was going to undergo facial surgery. Suppositions arose about a double, one of Carrillo Fuentes' strategies to evade authorities and his rivals.

These doubts were fueled by the deaths of the three doctors who had participated in the operation, including Colombian Reyes. No one knew who kidnapped and murdered them.

During those days, the disappearance of a Judicial Police commander of the District, José Luis Rodríguez "El Chiquilín", coincided, and the press attributed to him a suspicious resemblance to Carrillo Fuentes.

The suspicions were fueled, two years later, in 1999, by journalist José Alfredo Andrade Bojórquez, in his book Desde Navolato vengo: biography of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, in which he described the disappearances of those who had suggested that Amado Carrillo Fuentes was not dead. The author of the biography also disappeared in November of that same year.

Journalist Omar Sánchez de Tagle, from the media outlet Animal Político, asked the PGR for the results of the histopathological studies performed on the corpse in July 1997 and the results of the alleged DNA tests.

The Special Sub-office for Investigation of Organized Crime (SEIDO) responded that there were no expert evidence or DNA tests to publicly determine the cause of death. Seven different areas of the PGR, one of the most corrupt agencies in Mexico, stated that there are no documents on preliminary investigations, circumstantial reports, or open investigations involving the leader of the Juárez Cartel. The only available information were two press releases about his death in 1997.

More than 20 years after the presumed death of the "Lord of the Skies", there is no certainty about his death. Doubts about whether the body displayed by the Attorney General's Office was that of Amado Carrillo continue to this day. Also the rumors that he is still alive, in Argentina or Chile, and collaborates with the DEA.

When he died, the DEA and Forbes magazine calculated a fortune for him that was around 25,000 million dollars in businesses and properties, accumulated in 17 years of career as a drug trafficker.

The final episode of the series also hints at a reunion between Carrillo Fuentes and his Cuban girlfriend in Chile.