Emma Coronel Aispuro

Emma Modesta Coronel Aispuro ([ˈema moˈðest̪a koɾoˈnel ajsˈpuɾo]; born July 2, 1989) is an American former teenage beauty queen. She is known for being the wife of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, considered Mexico's most-wanted drug lord until he was imprisoned for life.In February 2021 she was arrested in the United States on charges of conspiracy to unlawfully import and distribute illegal drugs, and in November was sentenced to three years in prison.

Emma Modesta Coronel was born July 2, 1989, near San Francisco, California, US, to Blanca Estela Aispuro Aispuro and Inés Coronel Barreras, a cattle rancher and deputy of Guzmán who was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin designation. She grew up in the remote Durango village of La Angostura.

Coronel entered the 2007 Coffee and Guava Festival beauty pageant in Canelas, Durango, Mexico. Each contestant was required to host a party in honor of her candidacy; Coronel held hers on Three Kings Day. In this event, Coronel reportedly met Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, who traveled to Canelas to meet her. Both of them reportedly agreed to marry that day.

Coronel was arrested at Dulles International Airport on February 22, 2021, for conspiracy to unlawfully import and distribute illegal drugs. Authorities allege that she aided her husband with his escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 and also with a later second escape attempt in 2016. However, anonymous sources told Vice News that she had voluntarily surrendered and was seeking a court settlement.On 14 May 2021, El Pais reported her lawyer had denounced her conditions in Alexandria, saying she spent 22 hours per day in a small cell, with nothing to do but reading.

On 10 June 2021, in a plea deal she pled guilty to federal drug trafficking charges, where she had been charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On 30 November 2021 she was sentenced to three years in prison in the United States.

In the summer of 2011, Coronel traveled to Lancaster, California, to give birth to twin girls at Antelope Valley Hospital. Guzmán's name was left off the children's birth certificates because the U.S. Department of State was offering a bounty of five million dollars for his capture.

In a 2016 Telemundo interview conducted by investigative reporter Anabel Hernández, Coronel argued that the life of her husband was in danger and begged for justice on his behalf. In 2019, she attended the New York trial of El Chapo with her children. She attended courtroom almost every day of the trial, in what the press described as solidarity with her husband. She was interviewed in the reality show Cartel Crew on VH1.