Maria Salazar was the wife of Claudio Salazar, and after her husband's death became the mistress of Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela and later Orlando Henao Montoya.
She married Claudio when she was 18, and gave birth to her son Pedro. She was constantly mistreated by her husband and her mother-in-law Gerda. In 1994, she met Cali cartel co-leader Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela at the party where the Cali cartel announced their desire to surrender to the Colombian government. That night, Claudio had an argument with Maria at their hotel room, and left to party with his associates. The hotel room was bugged by the Cali cartel, and the conversation was played to the leaders of the Cali cartel. Miguel convinced the other leaders that Claudio was unhappy with the surrender deal, and sent Pacho Herrera to kill Claudio.
Maria began to panic after Claudio did not return for two days, and soon found out about her husband's death. Gerda blamed her for his death, forcing Maria to go to Miguel for help. She said that she was scared to return to Gerda's strong-hold of North Valley, so Miguel presented her with a high-end apartment in Cali. When she told Gerda about the apartment, Gerda told her to that they should use the apartment to plot revenge against Claudio's killers. However, Maria changed her mind when Miguel agreed to give her a monthly stipend, and she voluntarily became Miguel's lover.
Miguel had Navegante and Jorge Salcedo recover her son Pedro from Gerda, and the couple began to live together. However, the pair grew distant after the leadership of the Cali cartel fell solely onto Miguel's hands after the arrest of his brother Gilberto. With the help of Salcedo, the Search Bloc led by General Rosso José Serrano arrested Miguel. After Miguel's arrest, the cartel crumbled when the remaining two leaders surrendered to Serrano. Maria went to meet Miguel's son David and inquired if the agreement she made with his father would stand. David called her a whore, told her that she wasn't his mother and asked her to leave. Maria then approached Orlando Henao Montoya, Claudio's boss and the leader of the Norte del Valle cartel and asked for protection in exchange for offering to be his mistress. Orlando asked for something more, and Maria gave away the location of David's hideout, allowing Wilber Varela to kill David and end the Cali cartel forever.