Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from Debate
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Lucero Sánchez arrested in California
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Lucero Sánchez arrested in California
The former legislator, who is linked to "El Chapo" Guzman, was arrested by the US Border Patrol and is accused of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Additional information from UPI
By: Ed Adamczyk June 23, 2017
Baja California.- Around 10:00 am today, June 16, 2017 Lucero Sánchez Lopez, former deputy for the 16th district of Cosalá, Sinaloa, was arrested by elements of the border patrol when she tried to cross with a Tijuana visa to San Diego, Californiafrom Mexico through the Otay Mesa Border Crossing in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Francisco Verdugo, a lawyer for the former local deputy, announced that Sánchez López was charged Thursday June 22 with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
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"She was detained by the US government apparently accused of conspiracy, the reason for her presence is that she feels threatened in Mexico," said her lawyer.
According to Verdugo Fierro, the former lawmaker, Lucero Sanchez, traveled to the US because of threats from criminal groups and she seeks political asylum from the US Government.
"Unfortunately, when she went to the United States, she stopped there at the Tijuana checkpoint, at Otay Mesa," he said. Verdugo Fierro added that Sanchez Lopez was unaware she was the target of a U.S. investigation.
Sánchez López contacted her closest people around 6:00 pm today when her Visa was canceled by the U.S. State Dept. and she is being held at the disposal of a district judge in San Diego.
Magistrate Judge Barbara Major ordered Sanchez Lopez held without bail because she is considered a flight risk, reported KGTV-TV, San Diego, California. If convicted she is facing 10 years to life imprisonment.
She was detained by US agents accused of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Prosecutors say they have wiretaps from 2013 and 2014 which indicate she communicated with drug cartel operatives about drug money. They also are able to demonstrate that she was present when Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera notoriously escaped arrest in 2014 by running through sewers in the Mexican State of Sinaloa; after he fled his prison cell through a tunnel dug under his bathroom, states the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Lucero Sanchez Lopez traveled alone and without the company of her children, despite the fact that she wanted to apply for political asylum. She has denied rumors of having an amorous affair with "El Chapo" Guzman in prison; or being his girlfriend.
Back in Mexico, Sánchez López continues with a process/legal case/amparo against her accused of falsification of documents which is before a Federal Judge based in Toluca, State of Mexico.
Lucero Sánchez López had met this week with two lawyers who take their case before the Third District Judge in Toluca, State of Mexico, to raise the need for her to leave the country before she is besieged by criminal groups, which has led to the possibility of bringing her case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said the lawyer of the former deputy.
Verdugo Fierro said that Sánchez López is in the Metropolitan Correctional Center of San Diego and until last night his lawyers had not communicated with the prisoner.
They also mentioned that they are awaiting the name of the lawyer who will go to the United States to hear her case, because until yesterday they had not been informed that Lucero Sánchez was being investigated by the US government, said the litigant who along with Rosalba Alarcón have been working on the case in Mexico since 2015.
"About last week she was in my office, we talked and it was when she told me that she was afraid of the threats," he added.
Among the comments made by the former deputy to her lawyers is that she had taken her children from Sinaloa out of fear that something would happen to them, and "they no longer live in Cosala, where she resided."