Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexico’s most notorious cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, has been arrested in Virginia on drug trafficking charges.
In a statement released on Monday, the US justice department said that Coronel, 31 – who is a joint US-Mexican citizen – was arrested at Dulles international airport and was scheduled to make her initial appearance in federal court on Tuesday via video conference.
According to court documents, Coronel is charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana for importation into the US.
She has also been charged with allegedly conspiring to help arrange Guzmán’s spectacular escape through a mile-long tunnel from the high-security Altiplano prison in Mexico in July 2015. According to the statement:
After Guzmán was re-arrested in Mexico in January 2016, Coronel Aispuro is alleged to have engaged in planning yet another prison escape with others prior to Guzmán’s extradition to the US in January 2017.
Throughout the trial, Coronel attended court every day, even when evidence included text messages between her husband and one of his mistresses.
Before her husband’s sentencing, she told a sympathetic TV interviewer that Guzmán was a “humble” man and complained that the media had made El Chapo “too famous” as reported by The Guardian UK.
Emma Coronel was born in Santa Clara, California, and is the daughter of Ines Coronel Barreras, a medium-ranking lieutenant in the Sinaloa cartel.
She grew up in the “Golden Triangle” of Mexico’s Sierra Madre, and reportedly met Guzmán at a local festival. She was 17 at the time, and Guzmán was 51.
The couple has nine-year-old twin daughters.
El Chapo kept a low profile despite his fame, his wife sought the spotlight. She launched a line of clothing, with some of the items emblazoned with El Chapo’s familiar mustachioed face, and attempted to establish herself up as a social media influencer with a carefully curated Instagram feed.
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