The wife of 'El Chapo' Guzmán surrendered to the United States in search of protection in exchange for information

02/27/2021 10:51 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 02/27/2021 10:51 PM

Emma Coronel

, the detained wife of the powerful drug leader

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán

, voluntarily turned herself in to the United States authorities to be a protected witness, Mexican and American media revealed.

Anonymous agents explained separately to the Mexican magazine

Proceso

and the North American portal

Vice

that the woman was prepared for her arrest on Monday at the Dulles International Airport, Virginia (USA), for drug trafficking.

"'

She turned herself in'

, 'she called to turn herself in', 'she contacted an agent with whom she had already had contact for a long time to tell him she wanted to cooperate'" are the statements of US federal agents that

Proceso

collected

, that this end of week will expand the information in a report.

The arrest of Coronel, a 31-year-old Mexican-American citizen and "influencer," has rocked both North American countries over the revelations.

Colonel faces a sentence that could reach life.

Just on Wednesday, documents from Mexican and US authorities showed Coronel's failed attempt at one last and third escape by her husband, El Chapo, after his arrest in 2016.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affirms that Coronel paid $ 2 million to the Mexican official in charge of the prison system to reverse the transfer of Chapo to the Ciudad Juárez prison from the Altiplano prison, from where the capo escaped in 2015.

Coronel, who allegedly

helped coordinate the Sinaloa Cartel operation

, faces a minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum of life in prison, in addition to a possible fine of 10 million dollars, if he is found guilty of the criminal charge of drug trafficking in her against.

But Vice's information suggests that

the arrest was not surprising.

"Coronel's surrender indicates the existence of a cooperation agreement in which

she could provide information

or testimony in exchange for leniency in her own case," reported the US media, citing an anonymous federal agent.

Emma Coronel, the wife of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Photo: Clarín Archive.

Coronel's collaboration as a protected witness could shake the political landscape in Mexico, as in the case of El Chapo after his extradition in 2017 to the United States, where a court in New York sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2019 for drug trafficking.

A day after the arrest of the woman, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, suggested a link to the trial against former Secretary of Security Genaro García Luna, of the opposition National Action Party (PAN), detained in December 2019 in the United States. United.

"Add that the one who was Secretary of Security during the government of (Felipe) Calderón is being detained because of receiving bribes from Mr. Guzmán Loera. Perhaps that is why the detention is," López Obrador said on Tuesday.

Later, he refused to take a further position on the case as it is a "matter" that "corresponds" to the United States justice.

Source: EFE