El-Chapo’s wife arrested by American authorities

The wife of an infamous drug dealer, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was recently sentenced by a US judge to remain in the custody of the United States authorities. She is believed to have assisted her husband,  Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in running his huge multi-billion drug empire.

She was arrested at an airport close to Washington earlier this week. Her arrest is part of the detention of a series of high-profile drug kingpins from Mexico, which includes former Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuego.

Coronel accused of working closely with her husband in running the Sinaloa drug cartel 

According to the lawyer in charge of the case, Coronel “worked closely with the command and control structure of the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Sinaloa Cartel - most notably with her husband, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, the leader of the cartel.” 

The Lawyer added that she was also in close contact with multiple criminals wanted for drug-related cases in the US and that her freedom would cost the prosecutor’s office the case as she has the necessary funds to flee the country. 

Coronel and her lawyers have not yet submitted a plea deal to the court. 

Coronel has in-depth knowledge of the Sinaloa Cartel

As part of their defense, the prosecutor's office claims Coronel has sufficient knowledge of her husband’s drug cartel, and that she was responsible for running the business after her husband was sent to jail.

They added that she relayed information about the business to El-Chapo between 2012-2014 during his imprisonment. Coronel is also accused of aiding and abetting her jailbreak in 2015. 

The president of Mexico in a recent speech urged the US authorities to work together with Mexico by sharing more information concerning the case. Inter police relations between the United States and Mexico have been on thin ice after Mexico limited the power of US federal agents on Mexican soil due to a “breach in trust”.