Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, appears in this court sketch before US Judge Robin Meriweather and her attorney Jeffrey Lichtman during a virtual hearing in federal court in Washington, DC, February 23, 2021.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
WASHINGTON – A federal judge ordered the wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to remain in detention on drug charges after she was arrested at Dulles International Airport.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, has been charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the United States.
Expect to face a minimum of 10 years in prison or a maximum of 10 years in prison and a possible $ 10 million fine.
Coronel, a former beauty queen, has twin daughters with the Sinaloa cartel leader.
The Justice Department also accused her of running her husband’s multi-billion dollar cartel. She is dual citizen of the United States and Mexico.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is escorted by security as she leaves federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on July 17, 2019.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Justice Department accused Coronel of helping her husband create a Houdini-style escape from a Mexican prison in 2015.
The Sinaloa cartel leader fled a maximum security prison in July 2015 after slipping through a hole in the shower area of his cell.
The 1 1/2 foot by 1 1/2 foot gap in the shower floor led to a custom-made tunnel almost 30 feet below the Altiplano prison complex. The tunnel was 5 feet high and nearly 3 feet wide and had a ventilation system.
A view of the tunnel through which, according to the authorities, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman escaped from the Mexican maximum security prison of ‘El Altiplano’ in Mexico City, Mexico on July 15, 2015.
Manuel Velasquez | LatinContent WO | Getty Images
According to a witness now working with the US government, Coronel and Guzmán’s sons helped build the elaborate escape tunnel.
The 2015 escape was the second time the Mexican authorities lost custody of Guzmán.
The farm worker who became a powerful cartel leader fled prison for the first time in 2001. He escaped capture for 13 years.
After more than six months on the run, Guzmán was captured again by the Mexican authorities in 2016.
Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as “El Chapo”, is being transferred to the El Altiplano maximum security prison in Mexico City, Mexico on January 8, 2016.
Daniel Cardenas | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
After his arrest in 2016, the witness informed US authorities that Coronel had given a Mexican official $ 2 million to oversee Guzmán’s transfer from one prison to another.
According to US lawyers, Coronel ordered the rendition to allow a new escape. The drug lord was never transferred. A year later he was extradited to the United States. After a three-month trial in 2019, the Narco Kingpin was sentenced to life in prison.
