Pablo Escobar was left writhing in the toilet of a Casa Napalitlan after trying to have his mother prosecuted. Photos from the scene provided by the Justice Department. The mother in question was Laura de Jesus Pulido, the wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The Associated Press released photos of his face and hands, upon whose wedding ring Guzman allegedly collected millions of dollars. A prodigal daughter who has put aside family ties to prison the now-extradited “Sinaloa kingpin” apparently thought it was safe to return to Mexico from the United States on Thursday. She was mistaken.
The two women, one described by one attorney as Guzman’s second wife, the other considered to be a “golden girlfriend,” already were jailed together in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, after being arrested there in 2014. They came under international legal scrutiny over their alleged involvement in cross-border drug trafficking. Two years ago, lawyers for Pulido alleged that Guzman and his wife were “individually and jointly at the epicenter of Mexican drug trafficking,” according to the New York Times. Since then, there have been numerous versions of their bail conditions, the AP reports. None have explicitly given credence to the suggestion that both women were being held in exclusive private facilities. But some gave credence to the idea that Pulido could have been sent somewhere else, possibly in a private prison where she was isolated from other inmates and likely had little contact with her lawyer. Or at least that they were both held in private prisons after extradition. The photo from Mexico on Friday shows only a cell in the Arizona detention center with bars on the windows. Only Pulido’s face is visible.
Since his January conviction on a dozen criminal counts, Guzman has consistently maintained his innocence. On Thursday, Judge Brian S. Melendez ruled that he would be denied bail in this particular case. Last week, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto stated that El Chapo was going to be extradited to the United States, and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed U.S. officials to begin the paperwork required to turn him over.
In addition to Pulido and Guzman, three other female former prison employees, a female prison psychologist and another woman are also in custody after being charged in the case, the Mexican attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Read the full story at the Associated Press.
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