Lilia and Celia: “ El Chapo’s “ Trusted Cooks [Video ]

 Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Vanguardia

The cooks of "El Chapo": the women he trusted who were arrested with him ... could spend their entire lives in jail. Lilia and Celia worked with the narco chief for 8 years, until the day of his last recapture in Los Mochis, where they were also apprehended.

Their names are Lilia and Celia, of 33 and 40 years , respectively. For 8 years they were the "trusted" cooks of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán , and with him they were arrested on January 8, 2016, when federal forces recaptured the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel for the last time .

Today, the two women are imprisoned in the federal women's prison of Coatlán del Río , Morelos state, accused of organized crime, carrying a firearm exclusively for the Army and carrying a weapon without a license.

            

                                            Operation Cisne Negro or Black Swan

According to federal authorities, during the "Black Swan" operation that led to the reappehension of "El Chapo" in the Las Palmas subdivision of the city of Los Mochis, in Sinaloa , the two women were in a room, with long weapons in their hands and protected with bulletproof vests.

His lawyers and relatives, however, assure that the authorities have not presented evidence to support the accusations against the cooks of the "Chapo" and even affirm that there are images that show that they were unarmed and hidden in a bathroom at the time of their detention, in the house located at number 1002 Boulevard Jiquilpán corner with Río Quelite.

According to her statements, Lilia and Celia were among the most trusted people of  "El Chapo" and those who, through their occupations, attended to the members of their organization. 

The federal authorities even presume that the women accompanied him during the time he was hiding in the Sierra de Durango, in a place known as La Piedrosa, located in the municipality of Tamazula.

His case has called attention again, due to the trial against Guzmán Loera in New York, and his relatives have taken the opportunity to ask the Mexican media for the release of women.

Originally from the state of Durango , "El Chapo's" cooks have only elementary studies and Celia is a single mother. "When she met him, the truth did give her great joy, because all the people on the ranches know that he, "El Chapo", helps people," Mary Sanchez, sister of Celia, told a Univision newscast.

"I used to tell him that he had to look for another type of job, that his son had a job and there was another way of working, but he did not pay attention anyway," he added.

Celia and Lilia will serve three years in prison next January, and their chances of freedom seem as far away as that of their former boss, whom they accompanied until the last day of his escape.