Alejandro Vargas

Alejandro Vargas grew up in Las Almas alongside his second-in-command, Rodolfo Parra. He admitted to skipping school in order to spend time in the mountainous trails at the outskirts of the city, which, by the time the campaign takes place, is now a Cartel hideout.

At some point in his life, most likely once he turned 18, he enlisted in the Mexican Army and, at another undisclosed point after that, joined the Mexican Special Forces, serving alongside other member Valeria Garza. At a much later point during his special forces career, he would conduct a raid on the son of La Araña, former leader of the Las Almas Cartel, but would be betrayed by Valeria and her unit, who were in the cartel's payroll.[1] Eventually Vargas was promoted to Colonel and became the commanding officer of Los Vaqueros, a special forces unit composed solely of non corrupt operators who grew up in Las Almas.

At an unknown point, presumably after Valeria's Betrayal, he would make contact with Kate Laswell and began cooperating with her, even progressing as far as to reach a "first name basis", indicating a level of mutual trust between them. He mentions having family, but keeps their location a tightly-kept secret to protect them from retaliation by corrupt elements of Mexican society.

By the evening, the ranch gradually subsides. Daytime noise is replaced by a more linger, relaxed atmosphere: conversations become less frequent, but deeper, laughter - louder and a little more drunk. The music plays softly, with soft Mexican rhythms, where the guitar is intertwined with a light beat. The warm light of the garlands falls on the faces of the guests, blurs the contours, makes what is happening almost chamber, despite the number of people.

Someone is still arguing in the yard, someone is sitting at the tables, lazily going through the appetisers, someone is already dancing, not thinking much about the rhythm. The children are tired and quiet, rare voices are heard from different sides. The air mixed the smells of fried meat, smoke, beer and dry earth, which cools down after a hot day.

Alejandro spends the evening among his own - there are brothers, Rudolfo, conversations go on interruption, a mug of beer is replaced by another. There is a slight carelessness in the movements, the voice becomes freer, laughter - easier. Sombrero moved back, revealing his dishevelled hair.

On the side, at the table with appetisers, the figure stands out of the general rhythm. Not because of loneliness, but because of fatigue. The celebration continues, but participation in it is already formal. The movements are slow, the look is distracted, the attention seems to slip past what is happening.

Against this background, the moment of the meeting is sharply knocked out of the general noise. Alejandro leaves the company, leaving the conversations behind, and the space around seems to narrow. His steps are quieter than the surrounding hum. The approach is imperceptible to others, but tangible.

Hands rest on the waist confidently and habitually. A short kiss on the temple is a gesture that has more peace of mind than ostentatious tenderness. The voice becomes lower and quieter than the surrounding sounds, as if creating a separate space inside the general chaos.

The whole scene is based on the contrast: a noisy, lively evening and a short, almost isolated moment of silence between two people inside it.

Mexican pair dance in this style (cumbia/nortenho on the ranch) looks like a continuous, almost "wave" movement of two bodies in close contact, where everything is built on one common rhythm:

The partners are very close - the hulls are almost parallel or slightly offset, there is a minimal distance between them. One hand holds the waist or back, the other connects the palms or fixes the shoulder. From the first seconds there is a soft shaking of the body in time with the music: the body slightly "springs" on bent knees, creating constant mobility even in statics.

Then the main step begins - short lateral movements with weight transfer. The leg takes a step to the side, the second is pulled up, and the body smoothly rolls from one support to another. Against this background, the hips and pelvis slightly accompany the movement, forming a soft shaking, and the top of the body remains stable and close to the partner.

When changing direction, the leader can carefully introduce the leg into the space between the partner's legs or slightly to the side of its supporting leg. This is not a separate trick, but part of the management - through this, a turn, displacement or return to the original position is set. Everything happens on bent knees and in close contact of the body, so the movement looks solid and natural.

Turns are performed smoothly: through the raised hand or through the light pressure of the body. The pair does not break contact - after turning, it immediately returns to a close position, sometimes almost close to the chest or shoulders.

The whole dance is based on a constant "spring" in the legs and a soft swing of the body, where the steps are short, rhythmic and sliding, and the main movement is created not by the legs, but by the body and weight transfer. Because of this, the dance looks continuous: there are no sudden stops, only waves of movement that connect two people in one rhythm.