World News

El Chapo’s wife pleads guilty to drugs charges

The wife of infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has pleaded guilty to a range of charges including conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs.

Appearing in court in Washington, Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, admitted helping Guzmán run the Sinaloa drugs cartel and assisting in his prison escape in 2015.

She could face life in prison and be fined up to $10 million (£7.1 million).

Guzmán, 63, is currently serving a life sentence in Colorado for drug trafficking and money laundering.

Authorities say the Sinaloa cartel was the biggest supplier of drugs to the US.

Coronel Aispuro appeared in court wearing a green jumpsuit and white face mask to enter her plea before US District Judge Rudolph Contreras.

She pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiring to distribute illegal drugs, conspiring to launder money and engaging in financial dealings with the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Coronel Aispuro – who made a plea agreement – also admitted to playing a role in her husband’s escape from prison in 2015.

“She is very happy to put this behind her,” Coronel Aispuro’s attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said outside the courthouse.

“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.”

Her voice was quiet but clear in the courtroom. Throughout the hour-long proceeding, she spoke in Spanish and her words were translated into English by an interpreter (I listened to her speak from outside the courthouse, via a telephone conference call).

It was a striking moment: I had met Coronel, one of the most powerful women in narcotrafficking, in New York and watched her smile at photographers as they flocked around her outside the courthouse where her husband was standing trial.

She has now confessed to her own guilt as a participant in the cartel and afterwards the judge made it official.

“I find you guilty as charged,” he told her.

A few minutes later, the phone line to the courtroom was disconnected, marking the end of an era for her and for those who have followed her life in the narcotrafficking world.

Guzmán’s trial in 2019 heard shocking revelations about his life, from drugging and raping girls as young as 13 to carrying out the cold-blooded murders of former cartel members and rivals.

Coronel Aispuro, a former beauty queen, was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC in February and charged with conspiring to distribute 5kg or more of cocaine, 1kg or more of heroin, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and 1,000kg or more of cannabis, as well as aiding and abetting.

Prosecutors accused her of helping Guzmán to traffic drugs between 2012 and 2014 by relaying messages, and then continuing to deliver messages while visiting him in a Mexican prison after his arrest in February 2014.

Guzmán was sprung from Mexico’s maximum-security Altiplano prison via an elaborate tunnel escape. His sons bought a property near the prison, and smuggled in a GPS watch, giving diggers his exact location. Guzmán escaped by riding a specially adapted small motorcycle through the tunnel.

Court documents said Coronel Aispuro was allegedly involved in planning another prison escape for her husband before he was extradited to the US in January 2017.

-BBC

In Other News: Basetsana Kumalo’s husband Romeo allegedly in s.e.x scandal with top gay celebrity

It was like a TV drama series this week at the Randburg magistrate’s court in Joburg when self-proclaimed television mogul and former Miss South Africa Basetsana Kumalo and her husband Romeo appeared as complainants in their case against author Jackie Phamotse.

Basetsana Kumalo

Phamotse faces two charges of crimen injuria over a tweet she posted on June 5, 2018 alleging that she overheard a…LEARN MORE