Wife of ‘El Chapo’ pleads guilty

This photo taken in 2019 shows Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.

The wife of jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman pleaded guilty yesterday to helping her husband smuggle narcotics into the United States. Emma Coronel Aispuro, a 31-year-old former beauty queen, faces up to life in prison. She admitted all three counts against her, including drug trafficking and money laundering, during a court appearance in Washington. She answered “guilty” three times when the judge asked her for her plea. Coronel will be sentenced on September 15. Drug trafficking carries a life term in jail and she faces a minimum of 15 years. The admissions of guilt may help reduce her sentence, though. US authorities arrested her in February at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington on suspicion of “aiding and abetting” her husband’s drug smuggling business. Coronel was accused of conspiracy to traffic vast amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana for importation into the United States. Guzman was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most notorious drug trafficking groups. He ran an operation that delivered hundreds of tonnes of narcotics into the United States and was behind multiple murders of those who crossed him, according to court filings.