"La ChapoDiputada" Denied Bail a Second Time

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from Zeta

"La ChapoDiputada"                            El Chapo                             

By : Ines Garcia Ramos
July 3, 2017

At her second hearing, Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez was denied bail again.

Her attempt to escape, her strong ties to "El Chapo" Guzman and other high ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel's hierarchy, as well as her record of corruption and an open criminal case in Mexico convinced the US Magistrate to keep the former  Panista deputy behind bars in San Diego.

Accused of conspiring with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman to smuggle cocaine and handle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Sinaloa Cartel, former National Action Party (PAN) deputy, Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López, will remain in prison, without bail, while her case proceeds.

At her second hearing of the case, held the morning of Thursday, June 29, in the Federal Court of San Diego, Judge Barbara L. Major determined that there are no conditions to guarantee that the Sinaloan will return to court to face the charges against her if she is released.

One of the main reasons was her attempt to escape. According to the California Southern District Attorney's Office, Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López ran after being arrested by agents of the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) at the Cross Border Express Bridge, located inside the Tijuana Airport which has a direct exit for departure to San Diego, California.

On Wednesday, June 22, Sánchez López arrived in Tijuana, from Culiacán, Sinaloa and requested her entry to the United States. She told the officers of that country that she would go shopping in the Los Angeles area.

That day, her lawyers in Sinaloa said that she had fled due to threats and harassment from the government and organized crime, so her goal was to seek humanitarian asylum for herself and her children in the United Staes.

However, her visa had been canceled since 2015, when it became known that the then PAN deputy had visited "El Chapo" Guzman, while he was being held at the El Altiplano prison. Hence, her nickname: "Chapodiputada".

In addition, in the United States she faces charges for conspiracy to traffic more than five kilograms of cocaine. Consequently, US agents detained her at the border crossing, while taking her fingerprints and processing her to formalize her arrest.

Sitting on a bench, without handcuffs, Lucero Guadalupe got up and ran back towards Mexico. The officers shouted at her to stop and when she did not, they chased her down and subdued her to arrest her again.

This was explained by the representative of the Prosecutor's Office, Joshua Moller, who added that the former deputy is within the "close circle of Mr. Guzman," referring to "El Chapo", and maintains direct contact with him, his two sons Alfredo and Joaquin, as well as other senior members of the Sinaloa Cartel  hierarchy.

Likewise, he explained that Sánchez López has been charged "with corruption, along with other members of her Congress", in Sinaloa Mexico.

''ChapoDiputada" Could Receive Life in Prison

In the indictment that keeps the former deputy, Sanchez Lopez in prison, it is pointed out that an informant from the Department of Homeland Security identified her, through a photograph, as the woman who appeared as the girlfriend of "El Chapo" while the capo was being held in El Altiplano Prison in Mexico before his notorious escape though a hole and tunnel below the shower in his maximum security cell.

He also assured the judge that she escaped with the drug trafficker through a tunnel built under one of his residences in Culiacan, Sinaloa, on February 17, 2014.

On that day, federal forces carried out an operation to apprehend the capo, but he managed to escape through the city's rain system and take refuge until, on February 22 of that year, he was detained in Mazatlan, Sinaloa. 

The informant, who was part of the Sinaloa Cartel, also recognized the former deputy with the nicknames "PIEDRA", "MAICO" and "TERE", nicknames that Sinaloans used within their communications system of the criminal organization and through text messages.

Investigations indicate that since January 2012, a year before she became a local deputy for a district in Cosalá, Sinaloa, cloaked by the National Action Party, the woman was part of the Sinaloa Cartel and continued to be during her public office .

Similarly, the prosecutor explained that the accused has no ties in the United States, but does so in Mexico, where she maintains a case open for the crime of forgery of documents, i.e. false identification, which she used as she entered Altiplano Prison  to visit "El Chapo" Guzman.

Sánchez López's temporary lawyer, Joshua Jones, tried to convince the judge to grant her parole with the argument that his client is married to a veterinarian and lives in Sinaloa with her children, but was unsuccessful.

A Grand Jury will determine, before July 20, when the next hearing will be held and if the elements provided by the Public Prosecutor's Office are sufficient to continue the criminal process. If found guilty by the charges that are imposed on her, Sánchez López could receive a minimum sentence of ten years  imprisonment and / or up to a Life sentence.

Secret Finances

However, the former lawmaker refuses to make her financial statement public. This document will determine whether she can pay for  a private attorney or be represented by a public defender.

Since the previous hearing, on June 22, the judge dismissed the statement signed by the accused as imprecise and ordered her to sign a new one, but in Spanish, to ensure that she understood what she said and signed. 

If she provides false information in this financial report, Sánchez López will be facing additional charges. However, when Joshua Jones requested that the document be kept confidential, the prosecution objected.

Prosecutor Moller alleged that Sánchez López has "hundreds of thousands of dollars", a product of the profits of the Sinaloa Cartel, as indicated in the  indictment against her. Outside the court, the prosecutor told media that the accused still has access to these amounts of money.

It will be at the hearing on July 20 when the judge decides whether the  financial statement will be made public or not. It will also determine whether the former deputy will continue to be represented by a public defender or must hire a lawyer.

The accused, dressed in a yellow uniform, wore her hair in disorder. She kept her hands on her lap and  her gaze down, rarely facing forward and without turning to the judge, the prosecutor or her lawyer. 

Before retiring, Sanchez Lopez wiped her tears as she walked out of the courtroom and back to prison.