Sicaria - Rivers of Blood

‘Sicaria’ is a crime thriller set in Texas and centres around the trafficking of drugs across the Mexico/US border. All of the main locations used in the book are real. It is written as a mini series (and the first episode is provided here), but could easily be adapted for a movie. The lead character (Maria) is an assassin under the pay of a drug cartel, who seeks to build a new life in the US. The viewer is introduced to Maria in the opening teaser as a seemingly simple cattle rancher intent upon taking her herd of beef cattle across the border. The story then switches to an incident at a border crossing point in a town called Presidio. A large cocaine seizure takes place, but in the process of removing the drugs, there is an explosion. The cocaine is released into the atmosphere and a number of border crossing officers die from inhalation of the drugs. The true significance of this incident does not become clear until later in the story, as it is the first in a series of brutal planned attacks on border crossing points which eventually bring about the closure of the border. The incident at Presidio creates traffic problems at neighbouring crossing points and Maria and her convoy of cattle are caught up in this chaos. At this point the reader will still see Maria as a cattle rancher embroiled in a situation outside of her control. The truth is very different. Maria does not act alone. She is supported by members of her family. However, she is also forced to engage the help of others. The reader is led to believe that Maria has struck a deal with Neo-Nazi groups to provide the hired guns she needs. In truth, the Neo-Nazis are US Government operatives who support Maria’s cause for two reasons. The first is that Maria’s plan to remove the cartel heads on the US side of the border and the takeover of their operations will provide the US operatives with a puppet which they foolishly believe they will be able to control. The second is an agenda which they share with Maria to close the US border. The motives of the US operatives in this respect are purely in support of a political agenda, which feeds upon hate and racial intolerance. Maria’s motivations for the border being closed are far more prosaic – it prevents the Mexican drug cartel (and the Colombians who have supplied the Mexicans) from pursuing her in any numbers whilst she establishes the foothold in the US she needs. The story also introduces other key characters who both act as a foil to Maria’s character and eventually unravel Maria’s actions. The most significant of these is a female FBI agent (Cordosa). The two women share some traits. Both are serious and dedicated to a cause. However, the causes they support are poles apart and where Cordosa seeks to preserve life, Maria is capable of killing without compunction or mercy. The story ends with Cordosa understanding the full extent of Maria’s actions, the political conspiracy and the role of the US Government operatives - and that she has been little more than a pawn in a game which she has never controlled. Cordosa is set to be killed by agents she should be able to trust and Maria acts – not through some form of shared solidarity or to spare the life of an FBI agent, but to send a clear message to those who thought of her as a puppet they might try and control. Some aspects of the story are fairly ‘gritty’; Maria does not kill using a sniper rifle at distance – she is very ‘hands on’ when she kills. There are also elements of the story which clearly describe people being executed purely because of their skin colour.