Mauricio Islas is back on the Telemundo screen as "El Capo." The Spanish-language network announced this week that the new narco series will premiere on Tuesday, April 4 at 10pm/9c taking over "El Chema." "El Capo" is a new version of the Colombian series that ran for three seasons and starred Marlon Moreno as Pedro Pablo Jaramillo. With a whole new cast and set in México, "El Capo" promises to deliver a high-impact series. Meet all the characters and actors below and tell us what you think!
Mauricio Islas (José Vicente Solís Armenta): Solis Armenta was born into a family of farmers in a remote area of the mountain ranges of Sinaloa, where the main source of income in the area are drug related crops and activities. From a very young age, he realized that poverty doesn’t give room for any options and even though his mother tried to keep him and his brothers away from that place by moving to Mexico City, Jose Vicente falls in love with Maria Guadalupe a girl with whom he escapes with when they are just two teenagers and for whom he discovers he is willing to do anything, even killing, to make sure that her and Juan Jose –his first born- are protected. His survival instincts and his basic necessities push him to an abysm of violence and resentment, where the only law is survival of the fittest, a vortex from which he reappears as “El Capo”. Now, he is one of the authorities’ most wanted and one of the richest, owner of a fortune of more than 25-billion dollars which he has accumulated from his illegal and secret operations for the last thirty years. This money is his obsession: He prefers to die than to be poor again. Relentless against betrayal, a man of humble origins and brilliant intelligence, he directs his resentment towards the corrupt politicians that ruin the lives of people in his town. With a moody personality he can go from being selfish to the most generous, from philanthropist to bloody executioner, from a delicate lover to male alpha, for better or worse a man firm on his word. “El Capo” is an old school romantic whose love life is torn between Maria Guadalupe, the mother of his children, and his childhood love and the one he loves with an almost paternalistic love, Sofia, the attractive reporter that awakens passion in him.
Marisol del Olmo (María Guadalupe Luján Flores): She is the wife of Solis Armenta. She has been by his side for thirty years out of pure love and innocence and regardless of all his betrayals. They have two children together, Juan Jose and Camila who she loves obsessively; she is capable of doing anything for them. It is still hard for her to believe that her husband has been able to keep a secret for decades his career in the drug dealing business, making them believe he had a job that barely gave him enough to make ends meet when in reality he is extremely rich. Jose Vicente has been the only man in her life and the love that keeps her on the edge of what she should do and what she wants to do: she is madly in love with him and even though she cannot forgive his illicit activities, she remains by his side. She is a woman of impulses, not very stable emotionally, especially thanks to the pain it causes her to know who her husband really is, and the existence of his mistress. A woman of humble origins: she comes from a mid-low urban class; her family owns an apartment community and lives off of the rents. Her father, strict and old school, guards with strict zeal “the purity” of his daughter; her mother a devoted catholic and the person who has passed on to Maria Guadalupe the devotion she professes for the “Virgen Morena”. Maria Guadalupe dropped out of school to run away with Jose Vicente when she was only 15 years old. She is not an educated woman and doesn’t have great academic expectations for herself, her intelligence is more instinctive and she makes decisions with her heart. Faced with the complexities and randomness of life, she overcomes them with great strength, coming from love and becomes the source of support and moral balance of her family. She doesn’t know how to lie and is not afraid of speaking her mind. For “El Capo” she represents pure, loyal and maternal love.
Irán Castillo (Sofía Cáceres): She has been the mistress of “El Capo” for the last five years and his self-proclaimed biographer. Sofia has succeeded with brilliance, professionalism and intelligence in a media industry, to the point of becoming one of the most respected journalists in the country; the first and only reporter to have obtained a personal interview with the most wanted drug lord. That interview marks the beginning of a passionate relationship that took Sofia by surprise; her objective when she approached Solis Armenta was not as a journalist but a desire for revenge. Sofia was engaged to Juan Magaña, the journalist who exposed “El Capo” and his partner and subjected him to a relentless persecution from the authorities; a short time after that Juan is assassinated by “El Capo’s” orders. That is why Sofia looks for him with intentions of killing him but falls madly in love instead. She was raised in a mid-class luxurious home: intelligent, educated, sharp and passionate, tempted to be adventurous since she was a little girl and with an insatiable curiosity for the human condition. Juan’s death and, as a result of this, a miscarriage of their son, triggers a desire for revenge, unknown to her up to that moment. Sofia, differently from Maria Guadalupe, learns how to lie, fake to a point where she is no longer sure if her revenge is real or if she has real feelings for Jose Vicente. Her professional commitment to writing the biograph of “El Capo” grounds her. For “El Capo” she represents the intellectual, mysterious, passionate and defiant love.
Mauricio Rousselon (Juan José Solís Luján alias Juan Pablo Pascal): He is Jose Vicente and Maria Guadalupe’s first born. Juan Jose is a plastic artist and Mexican muralist, he works large formats. He is curious, avid and observer, with the courage to put himself at risk if he thinks his parents, his sister or any of the people he loves is in danger. He is honest and transparent with good intentions; loves without questioning and doesn’t complain when he is forced to change his identity. Juan Jose known as JJ is the impossible and innocent victim of the plan of his powerful father, whom he admires and adores regardless of his activities.
Isabel Burr (Camila Solís Luján alias Camila Pascal): She is “El Capo” and Maria Guadalupe’s youngest daughter, and Juan Jose’s sister. Camila is devoted to her parents regardless of living an existential dilemma that keeps her between a rock and a hard place: Her father is the enemy and main objective of the Central Intelligence Director of the Nation, Hernan Molina, Emiliano’s father, her husband and love of her life. Even though she is very similar to Maria Guadalupe in her innocence and sweetness, her education makes the difference: she is an educated and modern woman that studied economics and works independently as a company consultant and auditor. This job allows her to spend time with her husband and have a family, mixing the two sides of her personality. She is dynamic and has the moral strength to take charge of her destiny. She is daddy’s little girl but regardless of this, she is one of the few people capable of defying him and question his ethics. She has earned her own money and never takes a penny from her father as long as it is a product of illicit businesses.
Roberto Mateos (Hernán Molina): Director of the Central Intelligence of the Nation (CIN), Hernan is an honest, noble, good man with firm principles. He is very different from all the corrupt politicians “El Capo” despises so much. Hernan considers drug trafficking a cancer in his country and has taken on the personal mission of bringing Solis Armenta to justice. Hernan studied law and respects the law above anything, he is a cleaver political analyst and knows very well the military arena since his father was an army general. He loves, protects and fears for his family. Hernan desires having a long career in the institutional life and takes risks to achieve his objectives, but staying always within the law. His obsession for capturing “El Capo” will take him down a path much more difficult than this good man can even start to imagine since it will check his principles, his personal life and, cornered by all this, he will be forced to rethink where the legal boundaries really are.
Miguel Rodarte (Francisco Solís Armenta "Pancho"): He is “El Capo’s” younger brother and his trustworthy right hand man. His personality is completely opposite to his brother’s. He is discreet, quiet and a detailed observer. He did not finish his engineering degree but continued preparing himself empirically. He manages all the routes, purchases, sells, transactions and distributions of all the structure of the organization. He is faithful to death to his brother and, occasionally, serves as his conscience. “El Capo” feels an immense fraternal love for him, stained with guilt for dragging him into that dangerous life of drug trafficking. Pancho will do anything for his brother except maybe leave the woman he loves, Rosario Zaldivar an old mistress of “El Capo” and hidden mother of his other two children, Fabian and Deyanira.
Gerardo Taracena (Gustavo Benítez "Tavo"): Tavo is “El Capo’s” second in command; his oldest and most tested man; his gun-man. Jose Vicente trusts him blindly. Tavo is humble and simple. He is proud of his indigenous blood line. He is a strong, agile, and fast warrior. He can be sweet when trying to get something he wants through good means and a killing machine when he does it through bad means. He is claustrophobic, the only thing that can make him lose control is feeling locked up or having someone or something threaten the women in his family: mother, grandmother, sisters or daughter. He was raised in an all-women home from the Mazahuas of Mexico state. He is very observant but doesn’t speak much, eats little and keeps himself in shape with constant physical activity. He is always the first one on the battlefield, he is the first body seen in action before any of his partners. He gets along with everyone but is faithful to “El Capo”. He is not scared of dying but fears having to die without being able to contemplate the sky.
Sara Maldonado (Patricia Arévalo "Perris"): She is a hit woman that enjoys the absolute trust of “El Capo”. Perris is a loyal, brave and fierce woman, unscrupulous when it comes to her enemies, but sensible with anyone that reaches her heart, something that doesn’t happen very often. Once she makes a friend, it is for life, for her loyalty is unbreakable. She is gay, never mixes work with pleasure. She is discreet, never talks about her personal life and limits herself to be alert. She is a good negotiator, cleaver and great at resolving conflicts. Perris is a great bike rider, agile and dangerous with infallible aim. She and “El Capo” are so close that they understand each other with just a look. Perris has deep feelings for Jose Vicente, they are accomplices and see life in a similar way so much that, in a moment of intimacy and complicity, they end up having sex. He is the only man that awakens such strong feelings in her to even make her go against her convictions and come to the conclusion that love is blind and deaf, it affects nerves so sensible that break unexpectedly and unavoidably. Regardless of this, her high sense of duty prevents her from getting involved in the vortex of “El Capo’s” love life.
Claudia Lafarga (Sergio Machado "Checo"): Checo is a junior drug dealer using the word “junior” in a lose way. He comes from a good family, mid-high entrepreneurial class, honest and active practicing Catholics. He has never lacked money, studied in private schools and majored in electrical engineering and computer systems. He has always had everything he wanted easily, too easy to the point of boredom. This sense of emptiness starts getting satisfied when he meets Solis Armenta. He starts working with him out of curiosity and a sense of adventure; he is a hit man and loves guns, he never questions if killing is good or bad, he only does it if he has been ordered to do so or when he has to defend himself, and deep inside what fills his sense of emptiness is the sensation of having power. His IT knowledge is what makes him indispensable for the criminal organization. He can be occasionally crazy, a lover-boy, sweet and funny. He becomes the nicest person in his mother’s presence and would only betray “El Capo” to have Perris love.
Plutarco Haza (Archivaldo Valencia alias Ramón Lazcuráin): Archivaldo was the partner of Jose Vicente during the 25 years he ran the business in the shadows, and the intellectual administrator of his illicit fortune. He is tough, intelligent, a master of intrigue and deceit, cruel and with no scruples at all. Everyone, including Jose Vicente, thinks he is dead but Valencia has faked his own death and reinvented himself. Now, he operates in the shadows moving his cards to destroy who once was his partner and “soul-brother”. There is only one sensitive thread, just one weakness found in this dark man: A passionate, secret and prohibited love for Maria Guadalupe, the sweet, deceived wife of “El Capo”. He is Delfino Palacios’ informant.
Valentina Acosta (Connie de la Vega): Personal assistant to Henan Molina, she is the loyal unexpected bishop used by Valencia for all his intrigues and for his personal benefit. Infiltrated in the Central Intelligence agency, she is very skilled at managing information and subtly orchestrating the weave of threads of corruption in the best way possible without leaving a trail. She is calculating, ingenious and unconditional only with herself.
Julio Bracho (Señor H): He is a dark villain in charge of given the orders; the power behind the thrown; a true intellectual. He answers directly to the presidency, but doesn’t hesitate to act behind their backs to fortify his ties with corruption and mid-grade politicians. He is an ambiguous figure, a symbol and also in the shadows. He represents the maleficent intellect, “the devil’s advocate” his objectives are where the highest political gains are, capable of any Alliance on the Surface and underground. Obtains what he wants no matter what, even if it means a high cost to the nation and its people. He has high decision power.
Ari Brickman (Delfino Palacios): He is the Head of investigation of the CIN. Palacios has a lot of knowledge and is the person in charge of espionage and all the network of informants in the organization. An ex-colonel of the army, he is dishonest and ambitious, has built a reputation of incorruptible and has “very important” friends to whom he owes the position he holds. He is a go-getter and a coward who is unable to face the truth about himself. He is authoritarian and selfish, insatiable when it comes to money.
Pablo Cruz (Emiliano Molina): Emiliano is the son of Hernan and Irene. He is married to Camila whom he loves deeply. He studied international law and was a professor in the economics faculty, where he met and fell in love with Camila who used to be his student there. Emiliano is conventional and loyal to his family, especially to his father, whom he admires deeply and to whom he is an unconditional accomplice and considers an example of strength and honesty. Camila, on the other hand is his weakness, capable of moving his heart and soul to the point of disrupting him and taking him out of his right mind if his love or values seems threatened.
Verónica Merchant (Irene Montero de Molina): She is Hernan’s wife and house maker, a woman that dedicates her life to her family. Irene is apprehensive, organized, conservative and protective.
Alejandro de la Madrid (Marcos Uribe): He is an agent in the investigations area of the CIN. He is very dedicated to his work and career, which he picked knowing he could make a difference in the world. He’s a man of scruples, he is sharp and hardworking. He is honest and good. His objectives and reasons are similar to those of Hernan Molina, and since he is so intuitive, he has suspicions of his direct supervisor, Delfino Palacios, even though he doesn’t act on it because he doesn’t have a way of proving it. He is obsessed with finding “El Capo” and is willing to confront him which stems out of an order from Pancho to kill his entire family. From this point on, he becomes a transgressor and loses his position but continues investigating on his own until he finds Solis Armenta and faces the dilemma of turning him in or doing justice by his own hand.
Danny Perea (Pamela Gaitán): She is an investigation agent and Uribe’s partner. Pamela is intelligent, very confident, professionally as well as in her interpersonal relationships. She is brave and discrete, with a high capacity of transformation and infiltration. She is secretly in love with Uribe. She is loyal, honest and effective.
Guillermo Quintanilla (General Payró): He is a high ranking military that assumes the functions of the secretary of defense. He directs personally the operations to capture “El Capo” because of their level of importance. He is a friend of Hernan.
Gustavo Sánchez Parra (Coronel Avilés): Aviles is an honest and an incorruptible military. On several occasions, he has received offers to work for “El Capo”, but he has always turned them down. He is very aware of the danger, but isn’t afraid to face it. The worst thing for him would be to betray his principles, something he would never do.
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