El Chapo raped girls as young as 13 and called them his ‘vitamins, witness says | Breaking News, us

A person referred to as Commadre Maria regularly sent Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera pictures of girls as young as 13, court documents say, and the notorious drug lord and his associates paid $5,000 for each teen and raped them at one of his ranches. Guzman, known worldwide as El Chapo, is accused of raping young girls on multiple occasions and calling the youngest among them his vitamins because, he said, they gave him life. The allegations were recounted in documents unsealed Friday, just two days before jurors in Guzman’s drug-trafficking trial in New York are set to begin deliberations. Guzman’s attorney, A. Eduardo Balarezo, called them extremely salacious. Joaquin denies the allegations, which lack any corroboration and were deemed too prejudicial and unreliable to be admitted at trial, Balarezo said in a statement. It is unfortunate that the material was publicly released just prior to the jury beginning deliberations. For two months, federal prosecutors portrayed Guzman as a ruthless leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Testimonies, replete with tales of bloody assassinations, corrupt public officials and tunnels used for escapes and drug-smuggling operations, have offered an unprecedented glimpse into a secretive and sprawling empire that officials said funneled drugs into the United States for more than two decades. El Chapo trial provides a deep look inside the Sinaloa cartel’s drug empire But stories alleging brazen sex lives and beliefs about the Illuminati and witch doctors were left out of the testimonies. Prosecutors did not believe they were relevant to proving Guzman’s drug-trafficking activities, according to court records. The documents were made public following letters from media organizations, including the New York Times, which had complained of the trial’s secrecy. Prosecutors also said there is no longer a need to keep the documents sealed because the identities of cooperating witnesses mentioned in the records have been publicly revealed. The allegations came from a person identified in court records as Cooperating Witness No. 1 and in media reports as Alex Cifuentes, a former right-hand man who had testified that Guzman bragged about paying former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto a $100 million bribe. Cifuentes told officials that he lived with Guzman from 2007 to 2008 and that they raped underage girls during that time. Cifuentes said he helped Guzman drug the girls by placing a powdery substance in their drinks and that he had intercourse with teens as young as 15, according to court records. Mexico’s penal code says that sexual acts with minors younger than 15 are considered sexual abuse. The documents also included references to Cifuentes’s eccentric beliefs. Cellphone communications intercepted by law enforcement agencies showed that Cifuentes has interests in the Illuminati, Freemasonry and UFOs and had communicated with an associate about an impending 2012 apocalypse. Court records say Cifuentes also believed in astrology and had obtained snake oils from a witch doctor. Prosecutors did not introduce that information at trial because doing so would elicit testimony about the witness’s sexual activities and unorthodox beliefs, none of which, they said, are relevant to the crimes Guzman was accused of. A defense cross examination of one of the government’s cooperating witnesses would be unfairly prejudicial and would unnecessarily harass Cifuentes, according to court records. Buried in the documents is another rape allegation that was also not presented at trial. One paragraph says Guzman raped one of the government’s witnesses, began a romantic relationship with her and drew her into the drug enterprise. The only woman among the prosecutors' cooperating witnesses is Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, one of Guzman’s mistresses, the New York Times reported. Trump says a border wall would help stop drugs.’ El Chapo’s smugglers suggest it won’t. | Breaking News, us news, economy, Politics, political news, Investing, weather, top stories, travel, politics news, White House, national news, news from around the world, government, Business News, foreign news, World News, financial information, U.S & International Breaking News, entertainment, federal government, political opinion, Video news, technology, News, Markets, education, local news, environment

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