El Chapo's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro sentenced to 3 years in US prison

Mexican drug cartel “El Chapo” Guzman’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro was sentenced Tuesday to three years in US federal prison and four years of supervised release for drug trafficking and other money laundering charges. Her imprisonment came after she pleaded guilty to helping her husband in running his multibillion dollar-criminal empire. El Chapo’s wife had also helped the former drug lord in escaping through a tunnel dug underneath a Mexican prison in 2015 by smuggling a GPS watch to him in a food item, said the prosecutors.

El Chapo's wife's role in mexican drug cartel

AP stated that it was the GPS watch that helped the ones digging the tunnel to pinpoint El Chapo’s location and reach him. However, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel was recaptured in 2016. While the prosecutors had asked for four years of imprisonment for Emma, the United States District Judge Rudolph Contreras imposed a shorter term. Even though El Chapo’s wife was sentenced, the judge noted that her role was comparatively small in a much larger organization. 

Contreras said, “There appears to be no shortage of willing participants.” Emma had faced a minimum of 10 years of prison but she was also subjected to a so-called “safety valve” provision in the law considering she had no previous criminal record. El Chapo’s wife was not considered a leader and was not known to be involved with violence. 

Attorneys noted Emma met El Chapo at 17

The Defence attorneys had also pointed out that Emma was just a 17-year-old from an impoverished family when she met the Mexican drug cartel lord. The two married on her 18th birthday. Defence Attorney Jeffrey Litchman said, “This began when she was a very impressionable minor married to a powerful man more than three decades older.”

Following the ruling, El Chapo’s wife expressed “true regret for any and all harm”. Speaking in Spanish with a translator in court, Emma said, “I am here before you, asking for forgiveness”. She also asked for a sentence that would allow her to watch her 9-year-old twin daughters grow up. Earlier this year, she had pleaded guilty to three federal charges and neutered a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Emma even surrendered $1.5 million. The 32-year-old Emma was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and has been jailed since then.

(IMAGE: AP)