María LaGuerta

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María LaGuerta
Dexter character
First appearance	Book Series: Darkly Dreaming Dexter TV Series: "Dexter" Pilot episode: Dexter
Created by	Jeff Lindsay
Portrayed by	Lauren Vélez
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Police captain
Spouse(s)	Ángel Batista (Divorced)
Nationality	Cuban American

Captain María Esperanza del Alma LaGuerta ( /ləˈɡwɛərtə/ or /ləˈɡwɜrtə/; Spanish: María LaGüerta), known in the books as Migdia LaGuerta, is a fictional character in the Showtime television series Dexter and the novels by Jeff Lindsay upon which it is based. She is portrayed by Lauren Vélez in the television series. LaGuerta is a tough, determined woman in command of the Homicide division.

Character history

Discussions between LaGuerta and Batista in the first and fourth season give minor insight into LaGuerta's backstory; her family is said to reside entirely in Cuba, and she mentions being alone in a strange land, inferring that LaGuerta was sent to live in America, alone without her family.

Season one

In the series' beginning, she had a sincere dislike for Debra that all but disappeared until the sixth season.^[1] In the first season, she made no secret of her attraction to Dexter, with whom she flirted constantly, to his discomfort. After the first season, however, it is suggested that she sees him more as a good friend. At the end of the first season, she is removed from command.^[2]

Season two

Early in season two, she continues to struggle with her demotion and annoyance of Esmee Pascal's presence in the office. She resorts to sleeping with Pascal's fiancee Bertrand (though often doubts what she's doing), which quickly drives Pascal toward paranoia and instability. The woman's increasingly erratic behavior around everyone results in Captain Matthews being forced to take her out of the Lieutenant position and put Maria back.

When her friend, former partner and former lover James Doakes becomes the prime suspect in the Bay Harbor Butcher case, she tries to clear his name. She learns from a questionable source of two Special Forces missions Doakes took part in that directly conflicted with the deaths of two Butcher victims. However, Doakes is found dead in a seemingly accidental explosion, along with the body of drug dealer Jose Garza, and the case is closed. The evidence LaGuerta finds is ignored. After his death, LaGuerta starts a memorial fund for him, asking police officers for donations, and refuses to think of her deceased friend as a serial killer.^[3]

Season three

In season three, as she recovers from the trauma of Doakes' death, she leads an investigation into the murder of Oscar Prado, the brother of her ex-boyfriend and longtime friend Miguel Prado. She also develops a close relationship with defense attorney Ellen Wolf, and is devastated when she is found murdered. But through the help of some personal investigative work, along with Dexter's input, she was able to discover that Miguel was Wolf's killer. She confides in Dexter, as he is the "only other one who knows". After Miguel's own murder (ostensibly at the hands of the Skinner, but in reality by Dexter), she becomes distraught that the Cuban community is thinking about naming a highway after Miguel. She wants to find admissible evidence to prove he killed Wolf, but Dexter is able to convince her that doing so would only hurt Miguel's family and the Cuban community, and that even then there is a high chance that nothing will be proved. Reluctantly, LaGuerta drops it.

Season four

At the start of season four, she is shown to be romantically involved with Angel Batista. They keep their romance hidden from the rest of the staff within the homicide department, aside from Dexter, whom both Batista and LaGuerta confide in. Their relationship hits a roadblock when she tells their superiors about their relationship so that it cannot be used against them during a trial. The consequence of her disclosure is a threat of reassignment; either Batista or LaGuerta will have to move out of Homicide. Deciding that their jobs are integral parts of who they both are, the two decide to end their relationship, and sign affidavits to that effect. Staying away from each other does not prove easy, however, and they begin having secret liaisons once more. In order to circumvent a reprimand from higher up, and also as a result of their deepening feelings for one another, they secretly get married with Dexter as witness.

Season five

In season five, Maria and Angel are married, but they begin to have problems, as Maria becomes too bossy with him and Angel becomes more impulsive and gets in a bar fight.

Season six

Maria has recently divorced Batista after realizing that he's not as politically driven as she is. She is promoted to Captain in the first episode after blackmailing Deputy Chief Matthews over a Madam's contact list which includes his name. Chief Matthews assigns Debra Morgan as the new Lieutenant to Laguerta's dislike, because she promised the position to Batista. He seemingly did it to get back at Laguerta. Morgan went from being completely clueless and unsure of her new position in the beginning confided greatly in Laguerta's help, but because of Laguerta's obvious dislike for Morgan she gives her a lot of bad advice, much of which backfires on Laguerta. Morgan soon gains enough confidence in her position to not need Laguerta's advice anymore, and also starts to realize what Laguerta has been doing to her.

However, with Matthew's second transgression with a prostitute, she initially tells Debra to cover it up, but when she continues to search and finds proof of Matthew's involvement, LaGuerta disables both Matthews and Debra, without Matthew she makes it clear that she will depose Debra if she steps out of line.

Characterization

Differences from the novels

In the novels, LaGuerta's first name is "Migdia", but in the TV series, her first name has been changed to "María". In Darkly Dreaming Dexter, LaGuerta is portrayed as a spiteful, manipulative woman skilled only in political gamesmanship; in the series, she is cast in a more sympathetic light, as a tough but good-hearted woman and a talented police officer. In both the novel and the TV series, she flirts semi-openly with Dexter, much to his annoyance. In the first book, LaGuerta is stabbed to death by Brian; in the TV series, LaGuerta remains alive and very much a factor in the lives of Dexter and Debra, although her attraction to him is short-lived.

References

External links

• Maria LaGuerta at the Internet Movie Database