In his contribution to Portraits of Persistence: Inequality and Hope in Latin America, Dennis Rodgers recounts the life story of Soraya, a manicurist and drug dealer in a poor neighbourhood of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Although drug dealing in Latin America is a predominantly male enterprise, Soraya is one of the rare women who has established herself within the trade. Her involvement seems to have outwardly imbued her with confidence and independence, but it has also brought much tragedy to her life. While Soraya challenges many gendered expectations, her life possibilities are also fundamentally constrained by enduring structures of 'machismo' and patriarchy, which have in many ways been magnified by her involvement in drug dealing.