Chapo's wife speaks publicly for the first time since his extradition

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat from El Comercio

Chapo’s wife breaks her silence outside courtroom

Atty Balarezo far left, Emma and Atty William Purpura to her right

The young wife of Mexican Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán , spoke for the first time on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, since her extradition to the United States more than a year ago and said she was worried about his health.

Emma Coronel a 28 years, mother of twin girls, he had with the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel, complained that cannot visit her husband or talk to him on the phone after a hearing in the Federal Court of Brooklyn, where on September 5^th  the trial against her husband will begin.

"I have not seen him for 15 months, I see him in the Court nothing more. I do not have any kind of communication with him, neither visits nor calls. The only ones who see him are the girls and the lawyers," Coronel said in Spanish..

The defense, with lead atty Eduardo Balarezo, complains about his clients  detention in almost total isolation since his extradition to the United States on January 19, 2017.

 "My concern is his  health because I know he is very bad psychologically, because of what the lawyers have told me, and it is what worries me, how will he come to a trial, if he is in  bad health?” asked  Coronel, married to El Chapo since 2007.

Unlike Previous court hearings, this time the twin girls were not present.

The former narco, in blue prison uniform, greeted his wife at the beginning and end of the hearing.

A new psychological evaluation of El Chapo has been ordered.  Chapo who starred in two incredible escapes from Mexican prisons, is locked in solitary confinement 23 hours a day and must speak with his lawyers through a glass, without privacy.

Balarezo, did not allow Coronel to answer questions from the journalists, and said that his client will undergo a second psychological evaluation in the next two weeks after a first one made in November.

"His mental state is deteriorating (...) Not only his memory (...) but the way he understands things. It's not the man I met the first time I saw him, "said Balarezo.

*At the hearing, the government asked Judge Brian Cogan to accept as evidence for the trial, that  the partial payment of fees from El Chapo to his lawyer, is money that authorities said could come from drug trafficking.

Balarezo insisted that his fees should not be accepted as evidence, because that would force him to become a witness during the trial and could not therefore defend El Chapo more.

"He has a point," Judge Cogan said, and promised to study the matter for the next hearing, which will be held on May 30.

"They (prosecutors) have a lot of evidence in the case, why do they need proof of payments?" Balarezo told reporters.

"If we are witnesses, we cannot be lawyers."

Between 800 and a thousand people will be requested from July 31 to be possible juries in the process against El Chapo, which will last about three to four months. They will have to fill out a questionnaire that asks them, for example, if they watch television series about drug traffickers. Finally 40 people will be selected, and the day that the trial begins, on September 5, the final 12 jurors and six substitutes will be selected.

*Chivis Note:

With regards to the issue of the government request to have the defense attorney’s payment presented at trial, they hope to use it as evidence of El Chapo’s “unexplained wealth”.

Chapo’s lead attorney, Eduardo Balarezo has naturally objected, and stated to the court that if the court allowed its admission, then he may have to become a witness and thereby would not be able to defend him.

Judge Cogan told the government they have a hard sell and that if they really need to use that evidence than their case has problems. Basically he let it be known that he was not inclined to allow it.