Wife of Mexican drug kingpin sentenced to 3 yrs in US prison
New York, Nov 30 (EFE).- The wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Emma Coronel Aispuro, on Tuesday was sentenced to three years in prison by a US court in Washington after having admitted last June that she collaborated in the operations of her husband’s drug empire and pleading guilty to three crimes.
In addition to the 36 months in prison – to be reduced by the time she has already spent in custody since her arrest last February – El Chapo’s wife was sentenced to four additional years of supervised release and ordered to surrender $1.5 million.
Prosecutors had suggested to US District Judge Rudolph Contreras that he impose a sentence of four years in prison and five additional years of supervised release.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, was found guilty of conspiring to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana.
Coronel, who each day attended the 2019 trial of her husband in New York outfitted in luxurious accessories, listened to her sentence after having apologized and assuring the court that she felt “ashamed” of her actions. She also asked the judge not to be harsh with her regarding her sentence.
“I know that it can be difficult for you to ignore the fact that I’m the wife of Guzman and perhaps to feel an obligation to be harsher, but I beg you not to do that,” said Coronel in Spanish, addressing the judge.
By acknowledging her guilt last June in an agreement with the US government, Coronel avoided trial and a sentence that could have landed her in prison for up to 10 years.
The Mexican citizen also told the judge that she is “suffering” for the harm she has done to her family and asked him to allow her to be with her daughters “who are (already) growing up without one of their parents,” namely their father.
“Therefore, I ask you not to let them grow up without their mom,” said Coronel, referring to the life sentence imposed on her husband, the former leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel.
Coronel, the mother of 9-year-old twin daughters by El Chapo, was arrested last February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and since then has remained jailed without bond.
Upon handing down the sentence, the judge said that Coronel has no criminal history, adding that other sentences he has imposed on other members of the Sinaloa cartel who had been accused of trafficking greater quantities of drugs were also of lesser duration than had been recommended by prosecutors.
The judge also ordered that once Coronel has served her time behind bars, she will have to provide a DNA sample.
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