Antonio Yammara
This troubled, curious man is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He chooses a friend at a local bar with whom he can be honest. The man ends up being connected to the mafia, though, so Antonio's life spirals into paranoia, fear, and instability. He is nearly killed in a Cartel drive-by.
Aura
This strange minor character is not exactly a saint or anything. She offered sex for better grades, but neither she nor her professor, Antonio, expect that she would get pregnant. They have a terrible marriage for social reasons, because they have a child together, but eventually, the dysfunction and horror of it is too much for poor Aura and she leaves him to raise the child alone.
Ricardo
Ricardo is an ex-con who we learn about late in the novel. Turns out, he was a drug smuggler from Colombia to America. He was an airplane pilot who used his trips as opportunities to smuggle cocaine into the country. He was caught and served 19 years in American prison before returning to Colombia where he receives a mysterious threat through a tape casette, and then is murdered by the Cartel.
Maya
Ricardo's daughter who can teach Antonio more about the man following his death in a violent gang incident. Maya and Antonio become romantically involved, but it isn't clear that they are in love or something—the both seem to be so preoccupied by the drug war that marriage and romance are not really on their radar. Maya tells Antonio the truth, which is what he seems to like most about her.
