El Chapo’s Wife Emma Coronel Fears That Sinaloa Cartel Boss Could Die In Mexico Jail


Emma Coronel, the wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, has complained that her husband is facing ill treatment in a Mexico jail where he is being held, and his health is failing.

On Monday, Coronel took her case to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission. She claims that prison authorities are not concerned about Guzmán’s health and that he is on the verge of losing his mind, Fox News Latino reported.

She also alleged that El Chapo has been denied visits from his relatives and legal representatives, and he is being isolated in prison. She said that the time for her conjugal visits with Guzmán has been cut to two hours from four.

According to Emma Coronel, who has twin daughters with Guzmán, the drug lord told her that given his condition, he may not be alive for long to be extradited and could be dead by the end of this year, Mexico News Daily reported.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán has been attempting to get Mexican authorities to overturn their decision to extradite him to the U.S. early next year. Last week, a district court in Mexico rejected an appeal against his extradition. El Chapo’s legal team is set to take the case to a higher court, and there are speculations that the complaint about his mental health in prison is a ploy to rule him unfit to stand trial.

In July last year, Guzmán escaped from a maximum security federal prison in Mexico through an underground tunnel. That was the second time he had escaped from a prison in Mexico. His first escape was in 2001. Since El Chapo was recaptured in January this year, Mexican authorities have gone to great lengths to prevent him from escaping again.

Guzmán is currently being held in prison in the city of Cuidad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. According to Guzmán’s lawyers, he has been kept in isolation in prison and is constantly monitored by three guards who wake him up every hour to ensure he is there.

A young man holds up a sign reading “I love El Chapo,” referring to drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, outside the National Palace in Mexico City. [Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo]

El Chapo’s lawyer Jose Refugio Rodriguez told Fox News Latino that the government was torturing him by restricting his communication with the world and keeping him in isolation.

Guzmán’s defense team also claim that he is suffering from memory loss as the government has provided only a fraction of the medication he requires. He was reportedly taking about four medications including anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs.

While El Chapo’s wife and his defense team claim that his health is failing, Mexico’s National Security Commissioner Renato Sales says otherwise. On Tuesday, he denied the allegations that Guzmán has been subjected to torture and ill-treatment in prison.

Sales said Guzmán had been visited several times by his lawyer and his relatives including his wife, daughters, and sisters. He also claimed that El Chapo is allowed to exercise in the prison yard.

Emma Coronel is the third wife of Guzmán. The couple got married in 2007. Her father and uncles are well-known members of the Sinaloa cartel. According to the Daily Mail, Emma’s marriage to El Chapo is thought to have been a calculated move to unite the two leading families in the cartel.

Emma told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that El Chapo is a gentle person who does not take drugs or maltreat women. She said that she is convinced the Mexican authorities are punishing him for making the government look bad by breaking out of prison.

“They want to make him pay for his escape. They said that they are not punishing him. Of course they are. They are there with him, watching him in his cell,” Coronel said. “They are right there, all day long, calling attendance. They don’t let him sleep. He has no privacy, not even to go to the restroom.”

[Featured Image by Marco Ugarte/AP Images]

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