Drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s wife arrested in the United States for drug trafficking

Emma Coronel, The wife of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was arrested Monday in the state of Virginia and faces drug trafficking charges, the US Department of Justice reported.

Coronel, 31, a Mexican and US citizen, was detained at Dulles International Airport and will appear by video conference before a judge on Tuesday, the government said in a statement.

Coronel is not only accused of participating in a conspiracy to traffic in cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana, but also the United States accuses him of joining others to help Guzmán escape the Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juárez, Mexico in July 2015, the statement said.

After Guzmán was re-arrested in Mexico in January 2016, Coronel, along with others, is said to have once again planned another escape attempt for her husband. However, Guzmán was extradited to the United States in January 2017.

Coronel appeared daily in her husband’s drug trafficking trial – which took place in New York’s Eastern District Court – in late 2018 and early 2019 and was the center of the cameras every time I enter or leave the Brooklyn courthouse. Guzmán was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role as leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

According to an affidavit issued by Eric McGuire, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and published by the Department of Justice, from 2012 to 2014 Colonel relayed messages from Guzmán to other members of the cartel to continue its drug trafficking activities while avoiding being captured by the Mexican authorities.

After El Chapo’s arrest in February 2014, Coronel continued to deliver the messages her husband gave her during his visit to prison, McGuire wrote. The visits were not monitored by Mexican authorities, the agent said.

“I believe Coronel acted as a messenger between Guzmán and his soldiers, partners and children”McGuire wrote. “I also understand that Guzmán continued to direct the drug trafficking activities of the Sinaloa cartel from the Altiplano prison through various people, including Coronel.”

The FBI agent bases his charges in part on the statements of a witness he calls “Cooperating Witness.” McGuire says that after the arrest of “El Chapo” in January 2016, Col. gave him 100,000 dollars to the witness and told him to buy a property near the Altiplano prison. The witness would eventually receive a million dollars to complete the escape plan, McGuire said.

However, Guzmán was transferred to a prison in Ciudad Juárez. Coronel told the witness that she and others were trying to transfer “El Chapo” to the Altiplano prison, where an escape “would be possible”.

Coronel allegedly told the witness that around two million dollars had been paid to the Mexican official who ran Mexican prisons to effect the transfer to the Altiplano.

Guzmán never returned to Altiplano prison.

“Chapo’s” wife had already become a celebrity before the conviction of Mexico’s most famous drug lord, when he signed a contract to appear on a reality TV show.

The new stage of Coronel ended up heading with the agreements it signed with different companies to present itself as the official image of beauty brands. In a short time, the number of his followers on Instagram increased significantly, reaching about 400 thousand.

The former “queen of coffee and guava” was born in Santa Clara (California) 31 years ago. He lives in the United States – where many of his relatives are jailed for drug trafficking and other crimes – although he often visits relatives living in Mexico.

Emma Colonel started to make a name for himself at the age of 17, when she started winning beauty contests in the state of Sinaloa, an area of ​​Mexico considered the “Golden Triangle of Drugs” by federal authorities. At 18, the young woman married “El Chapo” Guzmán, with whom she had twin daughters Emali Guadalupe and María Joaquina.

On social networks, while showing part of his ostentatious daily life, Coronel Aispuro takes the opportunity to promote brands of Sinaloa products, such as fast food services, artisan jewelry, ice cream and cosmetics.

Source: AP, EFE and Clarín