Mexico's richest and most dangerous drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman was captured on Saturday, and since then the whereabouts of his 24-year wife Emma Coronel, with whom he has twin daughters, has become a topic of national interest. And it is now being widely speculated that the unidentified woman with whom the El Chapo was arrested could have been Emma.
According to reports, Guzman was caught with an unidentified woman in a condo in Mazatlan; a resort town popular with American tourists. Was the mystery woman the former beauty queen Emma? If not, where is she hiding?
The nexus between Sinaloa's beautiful women and powerful gangsters have often been a topic of several Hollywood movies. The rich and wealthy Mexican drug lords often choose beautiful young models to be their girlfriends and wives, as a status symbol.
But in the case of El Chapo, it is said that the drug lord fell head over heels in love with Emma. The Mexican, six years after escaping a high-security Mexican prison by being smuggled out in a laundry truck, married an 18-year-old Emma, whom he helped win a pageant at a local fair in the neighboring state of Durango, in 2007.
Emma is the third or fourth wife of El Chapo, the 54-year-old multi-billionaire head of Mexico's most powerful drug-trafficking gang - the Sinaloa cartel. It is widely reported that the El Chapo, who has a net worth of $1billion married Emma, the day she turned 18, in an opulent ceremony.
Emma holds both American and Mexican citizenship, as her father was a Mexican who worked for El Chapo, and mother an American.
Emma was on the US authorities' radar back in 2011, when she had arrived in California to give birth. But since she had no criminal charges, she was never arrested.
However, now that the El Chapo has been arrested, it is speculated that Emma may have gone underground. There are also questions being raised on whether she had any role in the arrest of the wealthy drug lord, as El Chapo - who has been so successful in avoiding the authorities all these years - got caught relatively easily this time.
In the pictures taken during the arrest, El Chapo looked aging and submissive, than his usual stern self. The drug lord may now get sent to the US on drug trafficking charges. Back in 2001, the government was going to sent him to the US following his arrest but Guzman, touted as one of the most powerful men in Mexico, managed to escape. But will he able to do the same this time?
