Which of El Chapo’s wives has pleaded guilty? Investigate the charges
While you’d expect a drug lord to have many wives over his lifetime, Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman only had one. She just pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Thirty-one-year-old Emma Coronel Aispuro confessed to participating in her husband’s multibillion-dollar drug cartel business.
On July 17th, 2019, Guzman was sentenced to life in prison plus thirty years. In addition, he was also ordered to forfeit more than $12.6 billion worth of assets. Nearly two years later, Aispuro pleaded guilty in a federal Washington court.
Emma Coronel Aispuro’s arrest & trial
In February, El Chapo’s wife Aispuro was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Virginia for international drug trafficking charges. Since then, she has been detained and awaiting her trial.
Now, she stood in court and pleaded guilty to three federal offenses through a plea deal with federal prosecutors Her charges included money-laundering, engaging in transactions with a foreign narcotics trafficker, and knowingly & willfully conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine for several years in connection with El Chapo.
Aispuro’s attorney Jeffrey Lichtman stated that before the hearing Aispuro discussed how she wished to someday return to her twin daughters like many wives sentenced to prison. “This is an arm’s length plea agreement,” Lichtman said. “She’s happy to take responsibility … (to) get on with her life.”
“She is very happy to put this behind her,” said Lichtman. “She didn’t expect to get arrested after her husband received life in prison. So, this is obviously a troubling time. But we’re going to get past it.”
However, prosecutors have asserted that she had “worked closely with the command-and-control structure” of El Chapo’s cartel and knowingly conspired to distribute large amounts of drugs that were to be smuggled into the United States.
Aispuro’s marriage with Guzman
Once an American beauty queen, she married El Chapo in 2007 when she was eighteen years old. Aispuro’s father, Inés Coronel Barreras, was one of Guzman’s top deputies. In August 2011, she gave birth to twin girls in Los Angeles, California.
When Guzman was arrested and standing trial in New York, Aispuro was present for each hearing, spanning thirty days. She came under the spotlight after she listened to accusations of rape & murder against her husband. During an emotional testimony by one of Guzman’s mistresses, Aispuro was seen quietly laughing.
At a separate hearing, the husband & wife were seen wearing matching velvet jackets which were taken by the public as a symbol of solidarity & loyalty to her husband. At the end of his trial, she said, “I don’t know my husband as the person they are trying to show him as, but rather I admire him as the human being that I met, and the one that I married.”
El Chapo’s prison escape
The infamous drug king has been arrested three times and escaped twice. During Aispuro’s trial, she was accused of helping organize Guzman’s second prison escape which took place in 2015. Additionally, she was also accused of participating in a possible prison escape for Guzman in 2017 before he was eventually extradited to the United States. She refused to comment on both of these accusations.
In 2015, El Chapo escaped the Federal Social Readaptation Center through a hidden tunnel. He was last seen by guards near the shower area which has limited surveillance. After losing visibility of him for almost twenty minutes, the guard went to check his cell only to find he had escaped.
While detained, a GPS device was smuggled into the prison where his cohorts could pinpoint the exact location of his cell. His men had dug a tunnel large enough for Guzman to escape on a small motorbike. The tunnel was equipped with lighting, air ducts, and high quality construction materials.
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Anthony Nardozzi, Deputy Chief of Litigation at the Justice Department stated, “The defendant aided and abetted the objectives of the Sinaloa Cartel and it allowed Guzman to resume his leadership role at the Sinaloa Cartel and in doing so, furthered the cartel’s drug trafficking business.”
Emma Coronel Aispuro will be sentenced on September 15th, possibly meeting the fate of many wives & associates of criminals. Do you think Aispuro is one of the most powerful wives in drug trafficking history and if so, do you think she’ll keep her power behind bars? Let us know below!
