１７歳でミスコン優勝、麻薬王「エル・チャポ」の妻　濃密なその人生

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】メキシコの麻薬王「エル・チャポ」ことホアキン・グスマン受刑者の妻、エマ・コロネル・アイスプロ容疑者（31）の経歴は、濃密だ。17歳で小さな町のミス・コンテストで優勝し、その1年後に32歳年上の麻薬王と結婚。モデル、インフルエンサー、ファッションデザイナーとして活躍してきた。（写真はメキシコの麻薬王「エル・チャポ」ことホアキン・グスマン受刑者の妻エマ・コロネル・アイスプロ容疑者）
　今週、麻薬密輸の共謀容疑で米首都ワシントンの空港で逮捕されたコロネル容疑者には、グスマン受刑者が最高幹部を務めていた麻薬組織「シナロア・カルテル」の取引に関与した疑いがかけられている。
　グスマン受刑者に終身刑が言い渡された２年前の裁判では、すらりと背の高いコロネル容疑者が３か月間ほぼ毎日、体の線を強調した服装にしっかり化粧をし、長い黒髪をなびかせて傍聴に訪れては夫にほほ笑みかけたり、投げキスを送ったりする姿が注目を集めた。当時７歳の双子の娘たちを傍聴席に連れて行き、父親に一目会わせようとしたこともあった。
　それが、コロネル容疑者にとっては夫に近づける限界だった。米当局はコロネル容疑者に勾留中の夫との面会や電話を禁止し、判事は裁判終了時に２人が抱き合って別れを惜しむことすら認めなかった。
　このときの裁判の証人によるとコロネル容疑者は、２０１５年にグスマン受刑者がメキシコの刑務所から脱獄した際、独房内のシャワースペースの下に掘られた長さ１．５キロのトンネルをバイクで駆け抜けて夫の逃亡を助けた。さらに１年後にも、再拘束された夫の脱獄計画を支援したという。

■多くのファン
　コロネル容疑者は、シナロア・カルテルの幹部の一人で通称「ナチョ」こと故イグナシオ・コロネルのめいで、米カリフォルニア州に生まれ、メキシコで育った。メキシコと米国の国籍を保有する。
　判決後には、麻薬組織幹部らの血縁者の生活を追ったテレビ番組「クルー・カルテル」に出演し、物議を醸した。
　コロネル容疑者には大勢のファンがいる。ユーチューブには化粧や髪形をまねしたい人たち向けの指南動画が幾つも投稿され、インスタグラムにも彼女の写真を掲載するアカウントが複数ある。ファンが作ったアカウントの一つは、「どんな女性も女王にはかなわない」をうたい文句にしている。
　公の場では、たびたび浮気を繰り返す夫にさえ忠実な妻に徹してきたコロネル容疑者は、麻薬について話したことは一切ないが、夫への称賛を隠したことはない。裏社会では冷酷さで知られたグスマン受刑者のことを、コロネル容疑者は裁判の際「素晴らしい父親であり、友人であり、兄弟であり、息子であり、パートナーだ」と語っていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/26-12:43）

Emma Coronel Aispuro's resume is dense: model, social media influencer and fashion designer, small-town beauty queen at 17, wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman a year later.
And now, at age 31, she is a suspected drug trafficker, accused of taking part in the operations of her husband's cartel, being held in a US jail after her arrest this week at a Washington airport.
Coronel, 32 years her husband's junior, has been a source of fascination since she played a key role in the trial of Guzman two years ago in New York, which ended in a life sentence for the powerful leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Tall, with long dark hair, tight-fitting clothes and lots of make-up, Coronel would smile at Guzman and blow him kisses as she attended his trial almost every day for three months.
That was as close as she could get to him. US authorities barred her from visiting Guzman in prison or calling him, and the judge at the trial would not even let them hug to say goodbye when the proceedings ended.
At times she took their twin seven-year-old daughters to the trial so they could see their father. She would post on social media photos of her entering the court building, or working as a model, or skiing, or sipping wine.
While Guzman was awaiting trial, Coronel posted on Instagram photos of a posh Barbie-themed birthday bash she threw for the girls.
Guzman is estimated to have amassed a $14 billion drug empire and neither US nor Mexican authorities ever managed to seize a penny from him.
- Complicity -
At one point in the trial a man named Damaso Lopez Nunez, the ex-warden of a Mexican prison who later worked for Guzman but then turned state's witness, testified that Coronel helped her husband escape from prison in 2015 by riding a motorcycle through a tunnel built under the shower in his cell.
She also helped him plan a second breakout after he was captured a year later, Lopez Nunez testified.
At another point prosecutors presented as evidence text messages in which Guzman asked Coronel to hide his guns as police were preparing a raid.
And there was this, too: an intercepted phone call in which Coronel hands the phone to her father so Guzman can give him advice on smuggling drugs across the border into the United States.
So during the trial the obvious question was why prosecutors had not yet charged Coronel. The prosecutors never said, but they were in fact investigating her.
- Legions of fans -
Coronel, who is the niece of Ignacio Nacho Coronel, another late boss of the Sinaloa cartel, was born in California but spent most of her life in Mexico. She has dual nationality.
A few months before Guzman was sentenced in July 2019, Coronel announced on Instagram that she was launching a line of clothing that would carry his name and initials, JGL.
My goal is to project my style and that of Joaquin, Coronel said at the time.
After Guzman was sent down for life, Coronel appeared on a controversial TV show called Crew Cartel, which followed the lives of relatives of drug lords who were trying to make a clean living.
Coronel has hundreds of thousands of fans. On YouTube there are video classes on how to wear your make-up or hair like she does.
Instagram features several accounts with photos of her, including one created by fans with the slogan no woman can compete with a queen.
In public Coronel presented herself as a loyal wife even though Guzman famously cheated on her often.
She never talked about drugs but did not hide her admiration for Guzman, who at the trial was depicted as ruthless with his drug trafficking rivals.
Guzman, she said after the trial, is an excellent father, friend, brother, son and partner.