Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has refused to provide information to U.S. authorities in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Coronel Aispuro's lawyer said this was because her client fears for the safety of her twin 10-year-old daughters, Daily Mail reported.

According to Criminal attorney Mariel Colon, El Chapo's wife instead opted to seek the "safety valve" exception, which requires her to meet a series of guidelines that could allow her to spend between five to seven years in prison.

Colon told Univision that her client has two girls in Mexico, and "it is very well known what happens to cooperators or to the family of collaborators."

"Why expose, risk the lives of her girls, the life of her family, when there is another resource that could... allow her to leave in the same time that she would have left if she had cooperate," the lawyer noted.

Colon said El Chapo's wife meets the "safety valve" exception requirements, adding that they are confident that she can qualify for it.

The lawyer noted that Emma Coronel Aispuro is allowed to leave her jail cell in Virginia for four hours a day but has not seen her twin daughters due to the COVID restrictions that ban inmates from receiving visitors.

The "safety valve" is an exception to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. It allows a judge to sentence a person below the mandatory minimum term if certain conditions are met.

This law only applies in drug-related cases and when offenders pose a "lesser threat" to public safety. Its goal is to save taxpayer money and reduce overcrowding in the U.S. prison system.

Colon said they are confident that Emma Coronel Aispuro can prove that she was not the "leader, organizer, or supervisor in the commission of the offense." 

The lawyer further noted that El Chapo's wife could also show that she did not use "violence in the commission of the offense, and the offense has "not resulted in serious injury.

El Chapo's wife was due to be sentenced last September 15, but it was postponed to November 30 so that her lawyers, led by Colon and Jeffrey Lichtman, could study their options.

READ NEXT: Brother of El Chapo, 3 Other Sinaloa Cartel Members Charged on Drug Trafficking Charges

Emma Coronel Aispuro Could Avoid Life Sentence 

According to a Mexican news magazine, sources from the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that El Chapo's wife could avoid a life sentence if she provided valuable details to the prosecutors.

The 31-year-old former beauty queen could reportedly avoid spending the rest of her life in prison if she decides to tell the "modus operandi" of her husband's sons, who allegedly share control of the Sinaloa Cartel with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

Zambada reportedly took control of the Sinaloa Cartel since El Chapo was arrested. 

As part of her cooperation, the California-born Emma Coronel Aispuro could be sentenced to five years in prison. She could also regain custody of her twin daughters and be placed in the U.S. Federal Witness Protection Program.

El Chapo's Wife and the Sinaloa Cartel

El Chapo's wife has been in U.S. federal custody since February when she was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

In June, Emma Coronel Aispuro has pleaded guilty to helping her husband run his multibillion-dollar drug empire. El Chapo's wife admitted to conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana for several years.

She also pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge and transacting with a foreign drug trafficker. During the guilty plea hearing, prosecutor Anthony Nardozzi said Emma Coronel Aispuro played a role in the trafficking of over 450,000 kilos of cocaine, 90,000 kilos of heroin, 90,000 kilos of marijuana, and 45,000 kilos of methamphetamine.

When this case was presented in a Washington D.C. court last February, Judge Robin Meriweather said if El Chapo's wife was found guilty, she could face a maximum sentence of life in prison with a $ 10 million fine.

The Sinaloa Cartel is considered to be one of the most powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. The group was founded in the late 1980s and headed by El Chapo.

Under El Chapo's leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel earned its reputation through violence and outfought several rival groups. Officials said the Sinaloa Cartel became the biggest supplier of illegal drugs to the U.S. during El Chapo's reign. Its revenue from drug sales ranged from $3 billion to $39 billion annually.

In 1993, El Chapo was arrested and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. He escaped from prison in 2001 and was apprehended again in 2014 in Sinaloa, Mexico. 

El Chapo again escaped from prison through a tunnel the following year. In January 2016, Mexican officials announced that El Chapo had been captured again. He was extradited to the U.S. the next year.

El Chapo was sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the ADX Florence "supermax" prison after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.

READ MORE: Clashing Mexican Drug Cartels Leave 2 Police and 7 Others Dead in Mexico

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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