Beautiful Emma Coronel, wife of infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo​" Guzman, has
made headlines for her outrageous spending and unwavering devotion to her notorious husband.
But how much do you really know about this Instagram sensation?
This is the untold truth about El Chapo's wife.
In an interview with the New York Post, Emma Coronel reflected on meeting El Chapo at a
party organized by her father when she was only 17 years old, saying:
"We crossed paths right in the center of the dance floor.
He flirtatiously smiled at me.
After a while, a person told me, 'The man asks if you want to dance with him.'
And I said, 'OK.'
Because in the ranchos, even though you have a boyfriend, you can dance with every person
who asks you to dance.
So I said, 'Of course!'"
Before the couple tied the knot on her 18th birthday, El Chapo - who was 30 years her
senior - pursued Coronel relentlessly, reportedly even rigging a local beauty pageant so that
she took the crown.
Coronel has denied El Chapo had anything to do with her victory at the Coffee and Guava
Festival that day, but he's apparently referred to her as his queen ever since.
During his time on the run, El Chapo famously sat down for a heavily criticized interview
with actor Sean Penn.
After brokering the meeting via Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, Penn inadvertently led
authorities right to the escaped convict.
Police were able to determine that El Chapo was hiding out in the house of one of his
henchmen, and when that person left late at night to collect a suspiciously large takeout
order, the authorities swooped in.
Now that El Chapo is awaiting trial, The New York Times reports that "extraordinary steps"
are being taken to keep witnesses alive, and the drug lord is being watched like a hawk.
Speaking to Mexican TV channel Telemundo, Emma Coronel alleged that her husband is being
abused by the guards, saying:
"They are there with him, watching him in his cell.
They don't let him sleep.
He has no privacy, not even to go to the restroom…
I am afraid for his life."
Emma Coronel insists her husband is just an ordinary guy; not a violent crime lord.
The former beauty queen once told Telemundo:
"He's like any other man.
Not violent.
Not rude…
I have never seen him get excited or be upset at anyone."
Coronel insists that her husband and family are law abiding citizens, but not many people
are buying it.
Journalist Emmanuel Gallardo told the Daily Beast:
"She's lying.
Everyone in Mexico knows the Coronels are connected to the Sinaloan cartel, and they
have been for years…
What kind of wife doesn't know where her husband works?"
The crime boss has a reputation as some sort of hometown hero, and is described by government
officials as being a, quote, "modern day Robin Hood" who is adored by the downtrodden for
giving back to his community.
That may be the man Coronel wants the world to see, but prosecutors are preparing to tell
a different story.
According to The New York Times, more than 300,000 pages of documents and thousands of
secretly recorded conversations are to be used in an effort to prove that El Chapo amassed
his 14 billion dollar fortune illegally.
Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy, said
it's possible the young trophy wife was something of an unwitting piece in El Chapo's game.
Carlsen told the Daily Beast:
"This whole [human rights] thing is a script being played out.
It's damage control by the Sinaloan cartel - and Coronel herself is just a pawn."
Former DEA deputy Jack Riley agrees that El Chapo has been using his spouse as a way to
distract from his criminal activity, telling the New York Post:
"Emma is really his mouthpiece.
He's a genius at P.R., and he is putting Emma up to all of this, to complain about his treatment
and to stall for time.
It actually worked for a while."
El Chapo’s fortune could very well be blood money, but it spends just the same - and no
one knows that better than Emma Coronel.
According to Jack Riley, who reportedly shadowed El Chapo’s wife on several occasions, Coronel
never passes up a chance to partake in some retail therapy - even during trips to discuss
her husband’s case with humanitarian groups, like the one she had in Washington, D.C. in
2017.
Riley told the New York Post that Coronel headed straight to the mall after her important
meeting, describing her as a, quote, “real party freak who has access to a lot of money.”
Another ex-DEA agent told the New York Post that Coronel's spending was reaching perplexing
levels, revealing:
"The whole story with her is so surreal.
She goes around and flaunts her wealth and lifestyle in front of everyone's face."
Despite the dubious position her husband is in, Coronel decided to splash the cash for
their twin daughters' birthdays in 2018, throwing the little ladies a lavish Barbie-themed bash.
Her Instagram post from the day, captioned #BarbieStyle, was liked by more than 360,000
people.
Emma Coronel's presence on social media got a boost in August 2018 when she set up a short-lived
Instagram account for her incarcerated spouse, captioning one snapshot of El Chapo:
"It is not the height, nor the weight, nor the muscles, nor the beauty that make you
a great person, it is the heart and the humility."
The people that El Chapo reportedly tortured and killed would argue that he has neither
heart nor humility, but it appears that Coronel intends to continue this rhetoric, whether
she truly believes it or not.