The wife of beauty queen Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is starting over after being released from federal custody last week.
Emma Coronel appeared at an event in Los Angeles on Friday evening to support her lawyer, Mariel Colón, who performed a musical set with other artists to mark Mexican Independence Day celebrations.
Colón, who was also part of El Chapo’s legal team, shared photos of her and Coronel on Instagram after her performance as a regional Mexican soloist at the Farallón Event Center.
‘I would like to thank my dear friend Emma Coronel for attending my presentation yesterday in Los Angeles. Thank you for all your support,” the Puerto Rican lawyer wrote. ‘I love you very much! I am very happy and excited about all the good things to come and the new beginnings.”
US-born Coronel opened a new Instagram account after gaining her freedom and shared two photos with Spanish captions on Sunday.
Emma Coronel (right), wife of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, poses with her lawyer, Mariel Colón, who performed as a Mexican regional soloist at an event in Los Angeles on Friday, just two days after she was released from federal custody
Mariel Colón, who was part of the defense team that represented Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and his wife Emma Coronel in a separate trial, performs at a Los Angeles show celebrating Mexico’s Independence Day
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán is serving a life sentence in the United States
One read: ‘Focus on yourself, on your peace of mind. People are temporary, remember whoever wants to be there will be there. And who doesn’t keep walking.’
Another read: “Never challenge a woman who has nothing to lose. When she lost everything, she also lost fear.”
Coronel completed 31 months of the 36-month sentence handed down by a federal court in Washington DC in November 2021 after pleading guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering.
The terms of her plea deal include four years of supervised release and the forfeiture of $1.5 million.
Coronel, who also has Mexican citizenship, apologized at her sentencing for her role with El Chapo and the Sinaloa cartel.
U.S.-born Coronel was held at a halfway house in Long Beach, California, and was released last Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.
Her release requires her to work at least 30 hours a week. She is also prohibited from having contact with anyone involved in drug trafficking or illegal activities, and is not allowed to visit El Chapo in prison.
Emma Coronel (left) and Mariel Colón (right) pose for a photo at an event in Los Angeles on Friday
Emma Coronel (second from right) starts her life over after her release from federal custody, completing 31 months of the 36-month sentence handed down in November 2021 by a federal court in Washington, DC after pleading guilty to drug trafficking and money money laundering for the Sinaloa Cartel, which was co-founded by her husband El Chapo
Although Coronel has never been charged with crimes in Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters on Monday that it is up to the prosecutor’s office to determine whether it wants to do so.
“If there is something that needs to be assessed in Mexico, in this case it corresponds to the office of the Attorney General of the Republic,” López Obrador said.
“It is the Office of the Attorney General that is conducting the extradition at the request of the United States Government, with the consent of the Department of State.”
His comments were made after El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán, was extradited to the United States on Friday.
Ovidio Guzmán appeared in a federal courtroom in Chicago on Monday and pleaded not guilty to five charges, including drug trafficking and money laundering.
Prosecutors accuse him and his three brothers Iván Guzmán, Jesús Guzmán and Joaquin Guzmán, also known as ‘Los Chapitos’, of taking control of their father’s role as Sinaloa Cartel bosses alongside Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Damaso. El Licendiado’ López.
“The Chapitos subsequently gained greater control over the Sinaloa Cartel by allegedly threatening and inciting violence against Lopez Nunez, his family, and his associates, and as a result became key leaders and drug traffickers within the Sinaloa Cartel,” it said US Department of Justice. said in a statement.
El Chapo co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Mayo and escaped from prison in Mexico twice before being recaptured in 2016 and extradited the following year.
A federal court in New York found him guilty of ten charges in February 2019 and sentenced him to life in prison five months later. He is being held in a super maximum security prison in Colorado.
Prosecutors estimate that the Sinaloa Cartel under El Chapo imported and distributed more than 1 million kilograms of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States.
They estimate his fortune at $14 billion.