María Antonieta Rodríguez Mata

María Antonieta Rodríguez Mata (born 21 June 1969) is a Mexican former police officer and convicted drug lord. She worked as a Tamaulipas State Police officer from 1992 to 1996. During her tenure in the police, she was subject to several investigations by the National Human Rights Commission for alleged human rights violations. 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. She was responsible for coordinating drug trafficking shipments from Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico to the U.S. The drugs were often guarded by corrupt policemen and smuggled overland through Reynosa and McAllen, Texas. Her role in organized crime is unusual since she held a leadership role in the male-dominated Mexican drug trafficking industry.

In February 2004, Rodríguez Mata was arrested in Monterrey under a formal petition from the U.S. for her extradition. Although she took legal steps to prevent her transfer to the U.S., she was extradited in August 2007 to face 10 counts of drug trafficking in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and was sentenced to 102 months (eight and a half years) in prison in October 2008. Since she had already spent time in Mexican and U.S. custody prior to her conviction, her expected release date was much sooner. She faced no criminal charges in Mexico.

Early life and personality María Antonieta Rodríguez Mata was born on 21 June 1969 in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Antonio Rodriguez Zacarias and Rosalia Mata Espinoza. An alternate date of birth, 1 January 1969, is listed in her criminal profile. When she was age one her family moved to Reynosa, where she grew up and studied until middle school.