Clarín in the narco trial "of the century": hearing of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, a man who is still scared – 30/01/2019

The wives who hold their wrists fall a few minutes before 9:30 am, when the audience in the room waits see in person the man who forged a multi-million dollar empire bathed in drugs, murders, tortures, escapes, loves and betrayals. The side door of Room 8C in Brooklyn Federal Court opens and appears, surrounded by bodyguards, a man of 1.64 cm, not wearing prison clothes, but a dark gray suit, a lighter shirt and a loose tie around his neck.

Man, 61, salutes his team of lawyers, smiles, sits, but he keeps scrutinizing no one in the room. His sharp eyes with brown eyes come and go like a scanner, he remains stuck in this correspondent for a moment and holds it firmly. It seems incredible, but this man with pointed ears, fake copper-colored hair, short and short – hence his nickname "El Chapo" – This definitely causes fear.

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In this New York court takes place one of the last days of the so-called "lawsuit of the century", where the Mexican Joaquín Guzmán Loera, former head of the Sinaloa cartel, is accused of being the head of 39, a criminal empire that smuggled cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana into the United States for 25 years, pocketing the road $ 14,000 million. If he is found guilty, he may be sentenced to life imprisonment.

The process, which began in mid-November, will not only decide the fate of the drug trafficker extradited to the United States in 2017. With his testimony, 13 former partners, collaborators, lovers and former members of the Sinaloa cartel they betrayed him to try to reduce their sentences, they opened a window to the world of drug trafficking and left naked how this group worked with the details: how the drug came from Colombia and was taken to the United States; how much an armed man earns per month; how Chapo tortured and killed his enemies; how he planned his spectacular leaks; what messages he sent to his lovers and even his frustrated desire to be a movie star.

"In some aspects, this case is unprecedented; The public's attention has been extraordinary, "said Judge Brian Cogan, who leads the process.The figure of Chapo is nurtured by the success of the series "Narcos" by Netflix and even the actor who plays it, Alejandro Edda, went to see him this week at the court. "I came to study a man who is sort of a myth, a legend," Edda told reporters at a break in the process. "I became nervous when (El Chapo) saw me and greeted me from afar.It was intimidating in some way."

Relentless security

Witnessing this trial is not easy. You must appear in court and make a row outside of 4 or 5 in the morning try to get one of 25 or 30 seats – depending on the day – for the public and journalists who can host the room on the eighth floor. With temperatures below zero, the motivation must be very strong. At the beginning of the trial, there were curious waiting stands and the novelty of the "Tower of Chapo", or the opportunity to see him in person. Most have only managed to enter an adjacent room to watch the public through a closed circuit television.

As expected, security is relentless. At 7:30 am, the court doors are open and a metal detector as well as a thorough examination of the belongings must be overcome. Mobile phones and recorders are left in detention. On the 8th floor, before entering the room at 8:30, there is another similar check, although this time too you have to take off your shoes. Instead, full of agents from several states, they circulate every 20 minutes of beautiful and relentless farmers who sniffs bins, backpacks and furniture looking for explosives.

A show for retirees and fans

As they line up to try to enter the room, Frank Tichenor, retired, tells Clarin I had traveled from New Jersey. "El Chapo is a rock star!"exclaims when asked the reason for the early morning. "It's amazing how he managed to escape when he was in jail!" He said with admiration.

His friend Tim Macken, also retired, said that capo narco "is a celebrity, that his fortune is greater than the gross domestic product of many countries" and that is why he wants to see him face to face . "I would say that he's almost a genius," Despite their enthusiasm, they were left with the desire and could only follow the public through CCTV.

Whoever could enter the room was Robbie Reach from Westchester. "I'm a fan of crime series like" Law and Order "and" CSI. "But that's the most convincing novel I've seen and it's real! "He is excited.

Far from fiction, Guzmán spends his days at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, one of the safest prisons in the country, where he stays 23 hours a day in a cell of 18 square meters where the light never goes out, with a small opaque window that does not allow to see the outside.

The transfer from Monday to Thursday – the days of the session – to the Court is a nightmare for New Yorkers because the Brooklyn Bridge is cut at rush hour and the area is full of patrol cars, trucks, helicopters and snipers. It is understood, for one of the most dangerous prisoners in the world and escapes expert.

Seconds before entering the audience the handcuffs are removed. Judge Cogan, dressed in a black dress, sits on a dais at the back of the room. On the right, the table with Chapo and his lawyers; in the center are the members of the jury and on the left those of the floor. They enter the room after the accused and the judge: it is a group of 7 women and 5 men, common citizen between 20 and 50 years whose identity remains anonymous for security reasons. You send African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. It is hard to be in the shoes of those who will decide the fate of someone who is accused of the worst cruelties.

The journalists and the public are located in front of this whole scene. They have air too four artists who skillfully and quickly draws the faces of judgment, the only image that transcends the media.

When the audience starts, The woman from El Chapo sneaks in. The old model Emma Coronel29 years old, black hair at the waist, red manicure, dark coat that enhances the size of his wasp and stiletto heels, remains sitting among the guests of the defense. Smile sweetly, but do not talk to the press. He listens with a translator to the entire audience, looking distracted while playing with a lock of hair.

The woman, who has a pair of seven-year-old twins with Guzmán, has remained intrepid even in the most complicated moments of the trial. She did not falter when Dámaso López, former head and member of Chapo for years, testified that she had coordinated, with the drug trafficker's eldest son, the famous escape from a prison Mexican in 2015, through a tunnel, with a motorcycle.

He did not seem moved either when one of Guzmán's former lovers, former lawmaker Lucero Sánchez, described another escape: in 2014, Chapo and two other people fled the authorities through a wet tunnel connected to the bathroom of a house. . It was early morning and Guzman was naked.

In the parade of these months, the witnesses described the drug lord as a suspicious manwho remained calm under the pressure and who could kill in cold blood without flinching. It was also vainHe wanted to make a film and a book about his life, two projects he could not do but he had to talk to American actor Sean Penn.

There have been important revelations about how the cartel has trafficked drugs. Jesus "El Rey" Zambada or the Colombian Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadía, better known as "Chupeta", described the details, including the use of speedboats, fishing boats, carbon fiber aircraft for avoid radars, helicopters, trucks, trains, submarines, trailers filled with jalapeños cans and tunnels under the border between Mexico and the United States, where money has also been recirculated.

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Another former lieutenant, the Colombian Alex Cifuentes Villa, even mentioned that Chapo had allowed them to import cocaine from Argentina to Mexico, which had been sent in bags from our country. He did not elaborate on this subject, but he also launched a bomb for Mexican politics: he declared that Guzman had paid $ 100 million bribe to former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, something that he denied.

But perhaps the day he declared the ex-hitting man, Isaías Valdez Ríos, was the most shocking trial since he denounced torture and killings by Chapo of his own hands, which add to the other executions ordered by the capodonist. witnesses. Valdez reported, for example, that the man sitting in front of him had beaten his enemies, burned them with a hot iron, shot them in the head, buried them or cremated them alive.

In a phantasmagorical story, he said that in front of a bonfire that they had ordered to light, El Chapo "put him in the head, shot him and said: & # 39; Fuck your mother! & # 39;. He did the same thing with the other, "said the hitman.They were thrown into the fire." There is no bone left, "ordered the chief.

El Chapo, who the clbadic mustache does not look like With whom he was known, he listens to these testimonies with a firm and serene face. Sometimes take water from the top from a small bottle and follows all the statements, including those from the FBI and DEA officials, who are in English, through the intermediary of a translator who is sitting next to you and speak almost in the ear. But his eyes do not stop to go through the whole scene. Look at the judge, then the witnesses, the jury and the journalists. His small, incisive eyes come and go. He has already said that he will not declare. His lawyers do not recommend him. He communicated it Monday, getting up, in front of a question from the judge, and it was the only time his voice was heard at trial.

The parade of witnesses is over and the closing arguments remain these days. Chapo's lawyers seek to prove that he was the victim of betrayal of his former partner Ismael Zambada – who has never been arrested – with the complicity of corrupt Mexican officials and a conspiracy between the United States and Mexico. The lawsuit ensures that it is false and also "totally irrelevant to the guilt of the accused". El Chapo pleaded not guilty. The jury could start deliberating from this Friday and will soon decide the fate of the Mexican.

Shortly before noon, the audience ends and El Chapo gets up. He smiles, shakes the hand of his lawyers and, several feet away, greets his wife with a fist. Security guards take him away to be handcuffed again. Before leaving the premises, the protagonist of the "Judgment of the Century" pauses and launches a last quick look at those who are still in the room.

By Paula Lugones. Correspondent in Washington. New York report.