The wife of the notorious drug lord El Chapo is a former beauty queen who unwaveringly supports her husband

• The wife of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was released from prison this week, according to reports.

• The Justice Department said Emma Coronel Aispuro helped plot her husband's prison escape in 2015.

• The former beauty queen has stood by her husband since she married him on her 18th birthday.

The wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán was released from prison on Wednesday after serving less than two years of a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to of aiding her husband in his multibillion-dollar criminal scheme.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 34, was released from a residential re-entry facility in Long Beach, California, The New York Times reported this week. She had previously been in custody at a federal prison in Texas but was moved to the halfway house earlier this year, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Coronel Aispuro, who is a dual citizen of the US and Mexico, was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2021 after she pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes, including helping Guzmán smuggle drugs across the US border and helping him escape custody in 2015. Prosecutors alleged she was "engaged in planning yet another prison escape" before her husband was extradited to the US in 2017.

The federal trial against the infamous Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán ended in 2019 when he was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years — and the kingpin's former beauty queen wife was by his side through it all.

Guzmán pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges connected to claims that he built a multi-billion-dollar fortune by smuggling cocaine and other drugs across the Mexico-US border.

After years on the run, Guzmán was extradited to the United States in 2017 and was held in solitary confinement in a high-security prison as he awaited trial, The Associated Press reported. He is now serving his life sentence.

As a teenager, Emma Coronel Aispuro was crowned the local Coffee and Guava Queen in rural Sinaloa, Mexico, where Guzmán once led the notorious Sinaloa Cartel.

Source: New York Post

Coronel Aispuro married Guzmán on her 18th birthday.

Coronel Aispuro met Guzmán, who is more than 30 years her senior, at a party organized by her father, Ines Coronel Barreras, according to The New York Post.

Coronel Barreras is reportedly a member of Guzmán's drug empire, the Sinaloa Cartel.

The 29-year-old former beauty queen was born just outside San Francisco while her Mexican mother was visiting relatives.

Source: New York Post

Guzmán has been jailed for most of his marriage to Coronel Aispuro.

Guzmán was arrested in 2014 after 14 years on the run following an escape from a Mexican prison, according to The Associated Press.

He escaped again in July 2015, and was recaptured in 2016. Guzmán was then extradited to the United States in January 2017.

Coronel Aispuro and Guzmán's twin daughters were born in 2011.

Guzmán urged Coronel Aispuro to fly to the United States to give birth, according to The New York Post, so they would be US citizens.

When her daughters were born in Lancaster, California, Coronel Aispuro left Guzmán's name off the birth certificate.

Source: My San Antonio

Coronel Aispuro flew to New York to attend the first day of Guzmán's trial in 2018.

She was spotted taking off her translator headset as prosecutors outlined the charges against Guzmán, according to The New York Post.

Coronel waved and smiled at Guzmán in court at the start of his trial, but wasn't allowed to give him a hug.

Guzmán had requested that Coronel Aispuro be allowed to hug him before opening arguments during his drug trafficking trial, which started on November 13, according to NBC News.

He had asked for a "brief momentary greeting to include perhaps an embrace," but was denied by the judge.

Still, Coronel Aispuro greeted him with a smile and a wave, The New York Post reported.

It is believed Coronel Aispuro was well aware of Guzmán's status as a drug kingpin.

Source: The Daily Beast

Coronel Aispuro feared for Guzmán's life after he was captured by Mexican authorities in 2016.

Source: BBC

In her first public interview in 2016, Coronel Aispuro defended her husband and said Guzmán wasn't violent.

Source: Business Insider

Photos of Coronel Aispuro flaunting her wealth have appeared on Instagram — but she said she doesn't run social media accounts.

"I want to clarify that I don't have any social media sites and that I am not the one who is posting those pages," she wrote in her letter to the Mexican press, according to The New York Post.

She added: "I never wanted to be in a situation to have my life exposed. I am not interested in exposing my life in front of millions of people who I don't know."

Coronel Aispuro voiced concern over Guzmán's health ahead of his drug trafficking trial.

In April 2018, Coronel Aispuro said she was concerned for his health and that she hadn't spoken to Guzmán in 15 months.

The 31-year-old mother of two was arrested February 22, 2021 on international drug trafficking charges.

Coronel Aispuro was arrested at Dulles Airport in February 2021. She was charged with participating in conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana for importation into the US, the Justice Department said.

The DOJ also alleged she conspired with others to assist her husband in his 2015 escape from a Mexican prison. When he was re-arrested in 2016, the Justice Department said Coronel Aispuro helped plan yet another prison escape before Guzman was extradited to the US in 2017.

Coronel Aispuro struck a plea deal with prosecutors and agreed to turn over $1.5 million in illegal funds from her husband's work.

She confessed to helping Guzmán move hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana into the US, but was ultimately sentenced to just three years.

Prosecutors said Coronel Aispuro was not the brains behind the operation, calling her a cog in the large wheel of her husband's criminal operations, The New York Times reported.

She served about 18 months in a federal prison in Texas before being moved to a halfway-house in California in 2023, according to The Los Angeles Times.

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