Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of the famous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, was released this Wednesday in the United States after serving almost two of the three years of the sentence imposed on her for charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.
The eccentric life of Coronel, 34, who was previously a beauty queen, led her to marry Guzmán when she was a teenager. Her husband was extradited from Mexico to the United States in 2017 and later sentenced in July 2019 to life imprisonment.
During Coronel’s trial, both prosecutors and her defense attorneys emphasized that she did not have a major role in the core operations of Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel, an organization known for shipping large quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and other drugs to the United States. Joined.
Prosecutor Anthony Nardozzi stated: “The defendant’s actual role was minimal. She was not a leader, organizer, boss, or other type of manager. Rather, she was a cog in a very large wheel of a criminal organization.”
In addition to her conviction, Coronel is also known for assisting in Guzmán’s spectacular 2015 escape from a Mexican prison. She has dual nationality, both American and Mexican, which allowed her to freely enter and leave the United States until her arrest at Dulles International Airport, near Washington, in February 2021.
Coronel’s release marks a new chapter in her life after her time in prison and her association with one of the world’s most notorious drug traffickers.