Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Debate
Dec 13, 2017
Her attorney, Heather Shaner, did not object to the prosecution's request to postpone the court hearing for another 60 days until February 13, 2018 given the "complexity" of the case.
After her arrest and subsequent release coinciding with the recapture of El Chapo, Sánchez López denounced the receiving of death threats against her and her children by the enemies of the Sinaloa cartel and announced her intention to seek political asylum in the United States. She traveled by plane to the Tijuana border and entered California through the Cross Border Express (CBX) International Bridge, but was immediately stopped by the immigration authorities, who realized that she had a case, ie warrant for her arrest, opened for drug trafficking in the United States.
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| "La Chapa Diputada "/ "El Chapo" Guzman Loera |
Judge Rudolph Contreras of the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia in the US capital postponed for the second time the judicial hearing of Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López, former congresswoman from Sinaloa who has been imprisoned in the United States since the end of August on charges of drug trafficking .
As in the judicial hearing last October, Sánchez López appeared in the courtroom in the orange prison suit, her hair was pulled back on the right side and the twitch in her eyes was very visible. As on previous occasions, she did not speak during the five minutes that the audience lasted, and she followed through a simultaneous translation device.
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| Photo El Universal |
Sánchez López has been detained by US authorities since June 21, when she was trying to cross from Tijuana to the United States through the CBX (Cross Border Express) International Bridge at Otay Mesa, San Diego (California), where she tried to ask for asylum. .
It was then that she pleaded not guilty to trafficking in at least five kilograms of cocaine, allegedly under the direction of Joaquín Guzmán Loera - who she claimed to have an affair with - and other leaders of the Sinaloa cartel.
If convicted, she would face sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.
What Is She Accused Of :
What Is She Accused Of :
The ex-deputy is accused of drug trafficking and of being aligned with "El Chapo", Joaquin Guzman Loera, imprisoned leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
This relationship became clear when Sánchez López visited El Chapo in 2014 in the jail from which he later escaped. Although Sánchez López entered with a false identity, the Mexican media broadcast images of the visit. The ex-deputy has offered several versions of her relationship with "El Chapo".
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| Photo El Universal |
However, that recording of the day she visited the drug trafficker in the maximum security prison of Altiplano was eliminated, so the Mexican Justice released her for lack of evidence of her alleged relationship with Chapo after stopping her in 2016.
Sánchez López had been elected in 2013, barely 24 years old, as the youngest deputy in the history of the Sinaloa State Congress by a coalition led by the National Action Party (PAN).
Her campaign, complete with raffles and entertainment provided with musical groups, came out triumphant in a PRI feud with a record number of votes, according to the Mexican media.
In August, a judge in San Diego, Ca authorized her transfer to Washington despite her opposition, arguing that the investigation, witnesses and prosecutors with knowledge of the case are in the US capital.
After her arrest and subsequent release coinciding with the recapture of El Chapo, Sánchez López denounced the receiving of death threats against her and her children by the enemies of the Sinaloa cartel and announced her intention to seek political asylum in the United States. She traveled by plane to the Tijuana border and entered California through the Cross Border Express (CBX) International Bridge, but was immediately stopped by the immigration authorities, who realized that she had a case, ie warrant for her arrest, opened for drug trafficking in the United States.
Her trial now goes hand in hand with that of "El Chapo", who was extradited to the United States in January of this year and faces a trial for drug trafficking in New York scheduled for next spring of 2018.