The trial of notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman continues in Brooklyn, New York, and is expected to last into early 2019.
This is the first time a major Mexican drug lord has been tried in a US court and pleaded not guilty. The trial has become increasingly tense in recent days, as Guzman’s attorney seeks to undermine testimonies from major drug traffickers.
Guzman, 61, faces a 17 count indictment that covers nearly three decades of alleged criminal activities. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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El Chapo once paid a $100 million bribe to former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto, a witness claimed in court yesterday.
Alex Cifuentes, who has said he was a close associate of Guzman for years, discussed the alleged bribe as part of the accused Mexcan drug lord’s trial. Asked if he told authorities in 2016 that Guzman arranged the bribe, he answered, “That’s right.”
"The declarations of the Colombian drug trafficker in New York are false, defamatory and absurd," wrote Francisco Guzman in a post on Twitter, adding that the Pena Nieto government "located, detained and extradited" the Mexican kingpin.
El Chapo has been on trial in federal court in Brooklyn since November. He was extradited to the United States in 2017 to face charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin and other drugs into the country as leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The court heard yesterday that the two men allegedly worked together to smuggle a variety of drugs across the border into Canada.
"You told the jury in opening the evidence would show Zambada was paying bribes to the president of Mexico" Judge Brian Cogan said. "Nobody has shown me anything so far to back that up."
Jesus Zambada, another cartel member, testified in November he paid a multimillion dollar bribe to an aide of current Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2005. The aide was not named but later Gabriel Regino, an official in Mexico City when Mr Lopez Obrador was mayor, wrote on Twitter that an accusation of bribery had emerged against him in the trial but was false.
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