Blog del Narco: The Family History of the Notorious El Chapo

Joaquin Guzman Loera had at least nine children with three women. One of them, like one of his brothers was killed. Other family members have been arrested and remain under surveillance by the Mexican and U.S. authorities. El Chapo, was arrested Saturday by Mexican marines in the resort city of Mazatlan, Sinaloa.

From his first marriage, with Alejandrina Maria Salazar Hernandez in 1977, he had two children. Two sons- César Ivan Archivaldo and Jesus Alfredo.

With his second wife, Griselda López Pérez (also known as Karla Pérez Rojo) he had the following children: Joaquin, Edgar, Ovidio, and Griselda Guadalupe.

In 2007, Guzmán Loera married Emma Coronel Aispuro, a native of La Angostura, Durango, and niece of his former partner Ignacio Nacho Coronel, who died in 2010 in a military operation in Zapopan, Jalisco.

Emma Coronel, a beauty queen from Sinaloa, had twin daughters, Maria Joaquina and Emali Guadalupe, born in August 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

These are the stories of his family known so far:

El Chapo’s son- Edgar Guzman Salazar was shot along with his companions in the parking lot of a mall in Culiacan, Sinaloa, in May 2008. Police more than 500 caps from AK-47 rifles.

The death of the 22 year old came nearly four months after the capture by the army of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva Mochomo. The detainee’s brother and the leader of the Gulf cartel, Arturo Beltran Leyva, attributed the arrest of Guzman Loera to treason and this led to a break with the Sinaloa cartel.

In a ballad published after the death of Guzman Salazar, singer Lupillo Rivera tells a story that on May 10 you could not find a single red rose in Culiacan because all were sent to the son of the “Lord of the Mountain”. In the song, Rivera mentions the name of Edgar Guzman.

The case against Ivan Archivaldo

Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar, nicknamed El Chapito, was arrested in 2005 in Zapopan, in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, and accused of laundering money for the organization led by his father.

He was released in April 2008 after the Mexican government failed to prove his guilt.

The judge who issued the release, Jesus Guadalupe Luna Altamirano, was then subject to an investigation for alleged irregularities.

Goodbye brother and collaborator

The September 21, 2001, almost eight months after the escape of Guzman Loera criminal from Puente Grande, the federal government, a tough blow against the Cartel with the arrest of El Chapo’s brother, Arturo Guzmán Loera, in Mexico City.

Chicken, as was known, had assumed the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel while his brother remained imprisoned after his capture he was taken to the Altiplano prison in Jalisco.

In 2004, the former head of logistics for his brother El Chapo was killed with a gun smuggled into the prison while talking to his lawyer.

The perpetrator of the crime, the defendant Jose Ramirez Villanueva was unofficially linked to the former leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who had also landed at the Altiplano the previous year.

Another brother goes to jail

Miguel Angel Guzman Loera El Mudo was arrested by the Mexican Army in Culiacan in June 2005, while celebrating his daughters Quinceanera.

The Ministry of Defense accused El Chapos brother of the movement of drugs and money “in bulk” from the Sinaloa cartel to the United States.

In August 2008, Miguel Angel Guzman was sentenced to 13 years in prison, a sentence that he is currently serving in the criminal section of the Altiplano, in a special area that as of Saturday he shares with his brother, according to a report from Millennium TV.

The arrest of Griselda

Federal agents arrested in May 2010 to Griselda Lopez, the second wife of Guzman Loera, at her home in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

The PGR said at the time that records indicated that López expenses were much higher than her income from income reported to the Treasury.

However, Lopez was released after making a statement to an agent of the federal prosecutors.

Read more on El Chapo in Spanish here

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Published in Latino Daily News