Telemundo's "El Señor de los Cielos" is more than just light entertainment because the telenovela also serves as an indictment of narcotics-linked corruption in Mexico, lead actor Rafael Amaya told Milenio.

In the series, the 38-year-old Mexican actor interprets Aurelio Casillas, a drug lord who ammasses enough power to effectively control his country's entire government. The first episode of its third season, which aired on Tuesday, points to the gangster having a change of heart: He seems to be willing to turn on his allies and cooperate with authorities -- so long as they agree to forgive his crimes in return, according to Melty.

The plot twist has been questioned by critics who said it turned a criminal into a hero, the website noted. And while Amaya had originally insisted that "people need to understand that (the show) is total fiction," the actor now acknowledges that "El Señor de los Cielos" also serves to illustrate -- and possibly improve -- Mexico's volatile situation.

"It is up to me to tell stories with this theme," he explained, according to Milenio. "This is also an indictment -- given what the country is going through -- but with a storyline in the middle of it that is meant to entertain people," the actor added.

That the telenovela is inspired by real events is undeniable, Amaya noted.

"We see it in real life, in the papers and on the news," he said about the drug wars south of the border. "We merely tell what we are already living," the actor added.

That may be why viewers seem to have a hard time accepting that Leonor Ballesteros, the incorruptible agent played by Carmen Villalobos, is coming "dangerously close to betraying her principles" in the third season of "El Señor de los Cielos."

"There are people who say, 'Why Ballesteros? Ballesteros was the only one that wouldn't ...'" Villalobos told El Nuevo Herald. "Many people on social networks -- most of them Mexicans -- have told me, 'I wish there were more police officers like you'; because it is true that (Ballesteros) is the only character who truly does something against the drug (trade) and corruption," the Colombian actress added.