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When I Grow Up
"Years later his trafficking career ended when he was caught trying to import 20 kilos of cocaine across the U.S. border..."
By Monica Magaña
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Youth Radio's Monica Magaña always wanted to be a drug trafficker, just like her uncle. Monica looked up to his money and power, but that changed when he was arrested and imprisoned for transporting over 20 kilos of cocaine across the US-Mexico border. (February 8 on KQED)
When I was a little girl, and people would ask “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My response was always… narcotraficante. Back then I didn’t completely understand what a drug trafficker was. I just thought it was a cool job. Because it was my uncle’s job.
Of course, my tio Juan didn’t tell me straight up how he paid his bills. But I did see that he made lots of money, traveled to exotic places and drove around in his shiny black Crown Victoria.
I admired my uncle’s power and told myself “I want to be like him.”
In my eyes, he was one of the most powerful men in Mexico, because I would see him boss people around, and they would never complain. Years later his trafficking career ended when he was caught trying to import 20 kilos of cocaine across the U.S. border. He went to court and was sentenced to eight years of jail. None of his so-called friends or even his fiancée went to visit him. We were the only people who did -- his family. We always had his back, even though we didn’t support his lifestyle.
I was really close to my uncle Juan and seeing all the things he went through made me realize that I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps. I’m still in touch with him and we talk even more often than when I was younger. In a way, his experience with narcotrafficking kept us apart because he had other priorities besides his family.
Now, I find it funny when I think about the goals I had when I was little. Knowing what I do today, if I could go back in time, to when people asked me “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I’d say - “a firewoman.”
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