Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has become one of history's most notorious drug lords; however, his wife insists her husband's reputation is merely a result of media sensationalism.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, who married El Chapo 11 years ago at the age of 18, spoke about her husband's drug trafficking trial in a rare 30-minute interview with Telemundo. The 29-year-old former beauty queen claimed she had never seen El Chapo do anything illegal and had only known him as a "humble" family man.
"Sometimes I feel the media has overexposed him," Aispuro said. "I feel people created an image of him, and they want that image to remain in the public's consciousness. It's the image that sells. So when someone says he's a humble and simple man, they don't like to hear that."
Though Aispuro claims the media has mistreated her husband, she also admits that her husband likely enjoys all the attention.
"I think he did like it, he does like it a little," she said.
El Chapo, the alleged leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, is facing a life sentenced on a litany of federal charges, which involve everything from money laundering and kidnapping to murder and drug trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Though she has accused the media of being biased, Aispuro told Telemundo that there's an upside to all the media coverage:
"[...] Everything can be clearer and everyone can see what really happens," she said. "That's what he really wants. For everyone to realize how things really are and see it all from another perspective. More than anything, I think that's what he wants. Just tell it like it is."
Aispuro has remained seemingly optimistic about her family's future and said she yearns for the day they can live without stress.
"[I want] to be calm, to be somewhere in the world where we can be at ease … I don’t dream of big things,” said Aispuro, who shares 7-year-old twin daughters with El Chapo. "Tranquility, happiness, nothing out of the ordinary. I am [happy] with the life that I have, of the life that I was given, of the husband that I have, of the daughters that I have, of the family that I have [...] I am very satisfied,” she said.
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