Drug Trafficker's Wife In Trouble

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The federal prosecution accused Emma Coronel Aispuro on Tuesday of having clandestine contacts with her husband Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán last week during the course of the trial against the Mexican drug trafficker in federal court in Brooklyn, NY.

In a letter to federal judge Brian Cogan, the prosecution claims that one of the members of the defense lawyer team facilitated "unacceptable" and "unauthorized" contacts between the accused and his wife, who has religiously assisted each trial day since its inception about three weeks ago.

Although the two cannot hold conversations, throughout the long sessions of the process they have been seen exchanging glances and some greetings. Before the start of the trial, the judge even denied a request by El Chapo's defense to let him hug his 29-year-old wife. However, according to the prosecution, there has been more than glances between the two.

As evidence, the authorities provide images captured by the closed circuit television managed by the federal bailiffs in which Coronel is seen using a cell phone in court on November 19, when the court rules prohibited the entry of telephones to the public, who must go through two security arches before accessing the courtroom.

In addition, one of the security agents had observed her with a cell phone on November 20, which led Judge Cogan to publicly admonish Colonel on Monday and force her to go through a security arch again before it began. the testimony of Miguel Ángel Martínez, a narco-aircraft exploiter who said he had worked for years with El Chapo.

Martínez detailed on Monday from the witness chair how he met the accused when he started trafficking cocaine in 1987, after having started growing marijuana in his native Sinaloa, and later became one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world with an army of hit men and the ability to bribe millionaire payments to the Mexican authorities, according to The New York Times.

To protect the witness, who has survived at least two attacks, the judge even instructed the cartoonists who portray the trial not to reproduce their features. Hence, the alarm caused by the presence of a prohibited cell phone in the room.

Only authorized personnel, in addition to defense attorneys, are allowed to enter the courtroom with cell phones. Journalists registered with the court to cover the case can access the building with a cell phone, but they must leave it in a room set up for the press.

The prosecution's letter recalls that Guzmán, 60, can only receive calls related to his defense and that third parties cannot participate in them.

The prosecution indicates that the restrictions imposed in the defendant's communications are due to the fact that they can result in “death or serious injury” to other people, in apparent reference to the protected witnesses and their loved ones, who could be victims of retaliation for your cooperation with the authorities.

For this reason, he asks that the defense lawyer, who does not identify in the version of the letter released to the press, be punished with a sanction that is also not made public.

According to the New York Daily News, the defense has so far not responded to the prosecution's allegations.