El Chapo drugged and raped 13-year-old girls, witness claims

Prosecutors at the trial of the drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera spent more than 10 weeks painting the kingpin as the most despicable sort of criminal. Guzmán, known as El Chapo, trafficked tons of drugs, bribed nearly everyone of authority in Mexico and once ordered his henchmen to incinerate the bodies of two of his enemies in a bonfire, they said.

But on Friday night, two days before jurors were set to begin deliberations, the prosecutors unsealed secret documents revealing a series of even more shocking claims against Guzmán. The most disturbing were accusations that the crime lord once raped one of his mistresses and routinely raped girls as young as 13, sometimes drugging them by placing “a powdery substance” into their drinks.

Guzmán’s lawyer, A Eduardo Balarezo, immediately discounted the accusations, issuing a statement Saturday that said: “Joaquin denies the allegations.”

In the statement, Balarezo noted that the claims “lack any corroboration and were deemed too prejudicial and unreliable to be admitted at trial.” He added: “It is unfortunate that the material was publicly released just prior to the jury beginning deliberations.”

The timing of the documents’ release was set on Jan 23 when Judge Brian Cogan issued an order signing off on a schedule that was initially proposed in a joint submission by the defence and prosecution. Cogan’s order came in response to letters from The New York Times and Vice Media complaining about the pervasive secrecy in the case.

The unsealed documents said the claims that Guzmán raped underage girls came from one of his former personal secretaries, Alex Cifuentes Villa, who testified at the trial that he lived with the crime lord in rural camps in the mountains while hiding from Mexican authorities. According to Cifuentes, a woman known only as “Comadre Maria” regularly sent Guzmán photographs of girls as young as 13 for him to choose from. For a $5,000 fee, Cifuentes said, the kingpin and members of his entourage — including Cifuentes — often had the girls brought into the mountains to rape them.

© 2019 New York Times News Service