La Reina del Sur: A record-breaking telenovela with a captivating plot

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Latin America like you’ve never seen it before: Telemundo’s La Reina del Sur — which is available on Netflix — follows Teresa Mendoza (Kate del Castillo), a money exchanger on the streets of Sinaloa, who falls in love with Guero Davila, a pilot engaged in substance smuggling. Though it seems like Mendoza is a typical narco’s morra — quiet, doting, and submissive — the telenovela soon turns everything on its head and turns Mendoza from a poor woman from Sinaloa into the most wanted and powerful druglord in the south. The telenovela is an adaptation of the novel La Reina Del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez, a Spanish novelist and ex-journalist. The series broke records for Telemundo when it premiered in 2011 (and led to an English-language adaptation that ended its five-season run The Queen of the South last year). It also marked an international breakout for del Castillo, a veteran Mexican American actress.