Last moments of Mexico's most deadly female cartel boss: Ruthless drug lord called 'La Catrina', 21, who led the nation's most powerful hit squad is killed in shootout WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
María Guadalupe López Esquivel died after she and seven other members of Mexico's most powerful cartel attacked security forces Friday in Michoacán
She was airlifted to a hospital after the road leading out of the city of La Bocanda was blocked
Authorities arrested another woman and six other men, and confiscated a cache of military-style weapons and ammunition
López Esquivel was 21-years-old and was known as 'La Catrina,' Mexico's 'Grande Dame of Death,' a satirical skeleton figure celebrated on the Day of the Dead
She reportedly oversaw an October 14, 2019 ambush that left 14 cops dead and nine other injured in the Michoacán city of Aguililla
Friday's attack, also in Aguililla, took place during a meeting with Miguel 'M2' Fernández, a top leader in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Video footage has emerged showing the dying moments of a female cartel boss after she was fatally wounded during a shootout with police in Mexico.
The clip and photographs appear to confirm she was María Guadalupe López Esquivel, known as 'La Catrina,' a female member of a cartel hit squad that massacred 13 police officers in October.
The 21-year-old was involved in an attack against the military, national guard and police in La Bocanda, a town in the central state of Michoacán.
Officials in Michoacán said six male gunmen were captured and a woman was killed after they opened fire on soldiers and police in the same area where the October ambush occurred.
State officials initially did not provide the identity of the woman killed in the Friday shootout, but videos and photos posted on the internet late Sunday showed the woman wounded on a stretcher, with a tattoo of a 'Catrina' on her thigh.
Photos of the woman circulated earlier showed the same tattoo in the same place; some photos also show her holding a pistol.
The Catrina is a skeletal female figure with a wide hat that has become associated with Mexico's Day of the Dead.
Video showed the woman had been shot in the neck and apparently died of blood loss.
Footage recorded by the military showed a battered and bloodied López Esquivel sitting on the ground and struggling with her breath.
A Mexican soldier is hear in the video assuring her the medical assistance was on the way.
'Relax dear, the helicopter is coming for you,' the serviceman said. 'Relax dear, you are going to be fine. Try to hold on, OK.'
In a separate video, a soldier carries López Esquivel and kneels on the ground before she was placed inside an awaiting helicopter in the municipality of Tepalcatepec.
The other arrested suspects were identified as Alejandra; Everardo; Brayan Juan; Juan Carlos; Octavio; Pedro; and Alejandro. Because of the Mexican judicial system's due process laws, the last names of the suspects were not publicized.
López Esquivel operated under the nom de guerre of 'La Catrina,' Mexico's 'Grande Dame of Death.'
Women have sometimes occupied high-level positions as money launderers in drug cartels in the past, but it is rare for them to command or coordinate hit squads.
La Catrina reportedly was meeting with another top cartel cell leader, Miguel 'M2' Fernández, before the gang attacked the security forces. M2 reportedly escaped unharmed.
Other gang members allegedly blocked off some of the town roads, which forced the military to request helicopter backup.
According to Mexican newspaper El Universal, López Esquivel abandoned the city of Tepalcatepec, where she was raised by her farmer dad and housewife mom, and went to live with an unnamed member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in the Michoacán municipality of Aguililla in 2017.
López Esquivel took a liking to actress Kate Del Castillo's portrayal of a female narco boss in the hit Spanish-language series 'La Reyna del Sur.' Oddly enough, Del Castillo along with American actor, director and filmmaker Sean Penn secretly met Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman in October 2015, three months before the Mexican military captured the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel.
During Friday's operation, security forces confiscated a log of records that made out López Esquivel to be the person in charge of paying off a group of 'halcones' or spies who then filtered information to the cartel. They were reportedly paid $210 a week.
López Esquivel's voice came up in an audio that was made public after she confirmed the orders handed down by Fernández to kill a convoy of police officers back on October 14 in Aguililla.
The cops were executing a warrant at a home in El Aguaje, a town in Aguililla, when they were ambushed by the gang.
Graphic images of the violent assault showed several police officers lying on the grass and a department pickup truck riddled with assault riffle bullets. At least nine cops were also wounded in the attack.
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