In the documentary “Married to El Chapo: Emma Coronel Speaks”, Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, apologized to the victims of the cartel’s violence and expressed solidarity with those who have suffered, although she maintained that she has “good memories” of her husband and cannot assure that he is bad.
Mexico City, December 1 (However).– “To this day I still wonder what would have happened if I had married someone else,” he confessed Emma Coronel Aispurowife of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loerain the documentary “Married to El Chapo: Emma Coronel Speaks” of Oxygenwhich was broadcast exclusively in the United States on November 28.
In the interview, Coronel Aispuro apologized to the people affected by the cartel violence. “I sympathize with all the people who lost a loved one and who have suffered,” he said. “Really, really, I’m so sorry.”
She also maintained that despite the accusations of the US Department of Justice against Guzmán Loera – which cover homicide and kidnapping – she has “good memories of” her husband, “so I cannot say that Joaquín is bad.”
“I can’t talk about something I haven’t seen,” he said.
Emma Coronel was a stoic figure… but not by choice. Watch the special premiere of Married to El Chapo: Emma Coronel Speaks Friday at 8/7c on Oxygen True Crime. pic.twitter.com/1y7t9wTiV2
— Oxygen True Crime (@oxygen) November 27, 2025
Coronel said he felt “very sad” after “El Chapo” Guzmán was extradited to the United States “because he knew it was one of his fears.”
Regarding the life sentence plus 30 years in prison for the crimes handed down to “El Chapo,” Emma Coronel said that, although the verdict did not surprise her, she felt “rather sad.”
She herself faced her own legal troubles in 2021 after federal prosecutors accused her of committing crimes, including helping orchestrate his prison escape, to help her husband. In June 2021, she pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering, drug trafficking, and a criminal violation of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, and was sentenced to 36 months in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
“It was very hard. Being separated from my daughters was the worst,” she said of her time in prison. “You have time to think, to cry, you have nothing to distract you. I was falling into a depression.”
Coronel was released from prison on September 13, 2023 and was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution. He was ordered to serve 4 years of probation.
“Since I got out of prison, I have been working on different projects,” he said of how he supports his twin daughters. “My parents have also been helping me. It hasn’t been easy.”
“I grew up isolated from the world”
Emma Coronel was born in California, but grew up on a ranch in Durango. “I lived at home with my parents and three brothers,” he shared. “There was no running water or electricity and, of course, no television. We were completely isolated from the world.”
In the documentary he explained that to support their families, many farmers in the region resorted to growing marijuana. “I grew up seeing and believing that the government was the bad guy. It’s like starving or doing whatever it takes to survive.”
Coronel told Oxygen she first crossed paths with “El Chapo” Guzmán when she was 17 years old and he was 49 years old. They met at a local party where Coronel was trying to get votes for an upcoming beauty pageant.
“I heard that there was an important person at the party I was going to and they told me that person wanted to dance with you,” she recalled. “A man came and told me: ‘My name is Joaquín.’”
At that time Guzmán Loera was wanted for the murder of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo, on May 24, 1993 in the parking lot of the Guadalajara International Airport.
“I don’t know if I recognized his name. Whenever I say that, people ask me: ‘How did you not know? How did you not know if it was on television?’. I didn’t have a television,” he said.
Coronel won the beauty contest and months later, just after her 18th birthday, she and Guzmán were married on her family’s ranch. “It was a symbolic marriage,” he said. “We didn’t have a civil union.”
At the time, their relationship was primarily long-distance, maintained by text messages, but Coronel also occasionally took secret planes to the mountains to visit El Chapo.
“To me, that was a normal life.”
Emma Coronel assured that at that time she spoke with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán about his work “He didn’t sit down and talk to me about his work,” she insisted. “I didn’t ask him about it, nor did I see him work.”
According to Coronel, for the simple fact of being “El Chapo’s” wife, authorities arrested her father and brother, accusing them of drug trafficking and sending them to prison for 10 years.
“If I hadn’t married him, my father and my brothers would never have gone to jail,” she said.
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