Operación Pacífico ran from February through April 2020 on Telemundo, a telenovela-length drama about a captain’s fight against a drug lord named El Guapo. The show follows Capitán Amalia Ortega, played by Majida Issa, as she leads a secret police unit tasked with bringing down one of the last drug traffickers on the northern border of Mexico. It is a crime series built on family stakes, betrayal, and a central chase that spans dozens of episodes.
The Lead and Her Unit
Amalia Ortega is the heart of Operación Pacífico. She is a brilliant federal agent with a secret investigation unit of the National Police, and her mission is personal: she wants to capture El Guapo, one of the last remaining drug traffickers in Mexico. The show makes her drive clear from the start, and Majida Issa plays her with a steady resolve that holds the series together across its sixty episodes.
Her unit includes a wide cast of supporting players. Mark Tacher plays Coronel Gabriel Pedraza, her superior officer. Julio Bracho plays Rodolfo Espinoza Roldán, better known as El Guapo, the man she hunts. Christian Tappan plays Mayor Ernesto Vargas, and Luciano D’Alessandro plays Jorge Camacho. Shany Nadan plays Teniente Paula Gaitán, and Emmanuel Orenday plays Valerio García, also known as Guerrero. Klemen Novak plays Agente Bradley Jones, while Jorge López plays Héctor Pulido, also known as El Señor M. Ernesto Benjumea plays General Álvaro López, and Johanna Fadul plays Mariana Ortega, Amalia’s sister. Ronald Torres rounds out the main cast as Agente Óscar Rojas.
The Case Against El Guapo
The central plot of Operación Pacífico is simple: Amalia Ortega is hunting a drug lord named El Guapo. He is one of the last remaining traffickers on the northern border of Mexico, and her unit’s mission is to bring him down. The show spends episode after episode building toward that confrontation, with Amalia navigating political pressure, family loyalty, and the constant threat of violence from the criminal world she is trying to dismantle.
The series is a telenovela-style drama, which means it leans heavily on emotional beats and cliffhangers. There are betrayals, alliances, and moments of high tension. The pacing is fast, and the show rarely lets a scene sit too long before moving forward.
Family Stakes
The show’s strongest moments come when it shifts focus from the case to Amalia’s personal life. She is married, and her family is threatened by her work. The show makes clear that her pursuit of El Guapo puts everyone she loves in danger, not just herself. This tension runs through every episode, and it is what keeps viewers invested even when the crime procedural elements grow repetitive.
The cast chemistry helps sell these scenes. Majida Issa and her co-stars play off each other with a warmth that grounds the more theatrical moments. The family scenes are the series at its best, offering quieter, more human storytelling alongside the action.
What Works
Several elements stand out consistently across the series:
- Majida Issa’s performance as Amalia Ortega, the lead investigator
- The tension between her professional duties and her family obligations
- The slow build of the hunt for El Guapo
- The casting of Julio Bracho as the antagonist
These strengths carry the show through its weaker stretches, which include some filler episodes and a few twists that feel predictable rather than surprising.
The Pace Problem
Operación Pacífico is a long series, and its length shows in places. Some episodes feel like padding, with scenes that exist mainly to keep the audience waiting for the next twist. The show’s episodic structure, with sixty episodes spread across three months, means that the pace can drag in the middle sections. When the series slows down, it loses some of the urgency that defines its best moments.
The show’s production values are solid, with sets and costumes that support the story’s sense of place. The music also serves the tone well, though it rarely stands out enough to be memorable on its own.
How It Ends
The final stretch of Operación Pacífico brings the hunt for El Guapo to a head. Amalia Ortega faces her greatest challenge, and the show delivers a conclusion that respects the stakes it has built over the previous fifty-nine episodes. It does not rush the ending, and it does not cheat the audience.
| Episode | Title | Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pilot | 10 February 2020 |
| 60 | Finale | 17 April 2020 |
The series premiered on 10 February 2020 and ended on 17 April 2020. That is a short window for sixty episodes, which explains why the pacing issues are concentrated in the middle rather than spread evenly throughout.
The Final Word
Operación Pacífico is a solid crime series that leans on its cast and its emotional core to overcome its structural weaknesses. Majida Issa gives a strong lead performance, and the family-focused scenes are the show’s best material. The hunt for El Guapo provides a clear throughline, even when individual episodes drag.
The show is not subtle, and it does not pretend to be. It is a telenovela-style drama that knows exactly what it is doing, and it mostly succeeds at doing it. The pacing issues and filler episodes hold it back from greatness, but the core elements are strong enough to recommend it to anyone looking for a crime series with a human center.
Operación Pacífico earns a score of 7.7 out of 10.
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