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u.s. news Diaranson 1 December 2021

Wife of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ gets 3 years on US charges

(AP) - The wife of Mexi- U.S. District Judge Rudolph man more than three decades
can drug kingpin Joaquin Contreras imposed a shorter older,” Jeffrey Lichtman said.
“El Chapo” Guzman was term, saying her role was a Coronel Aispuro expressed
sentenced Tuesday to small piece of a much larg- “true regret for any and all
three years in prison after er organization. Her arrest harm” as she spoke through
pleading guilty to helping doesn’t seem to have reduced a Spanish translator in court.
her husband run his mul- the harm caused by the cartel, “I am here before you, ask-
tibillion-dollar criminal he said. “There appears to be ing for forgiveness,” she said.
empire. no shortage of willing partici- She asked for a sentence that
pants,” he said. would allow her to watch her
Emma Coronel Aispuro also 9-year-old twin daughters
helped her husband plan She had faced a minimum of grow up.
a dramatic escape through 10 years in prison, but was
a tunnel dug underneath a subject to a so-called “safety She previously pleaded guilty
prison in Mexico in 2015 valve” provision because she to three federal offenses as
by smuggling a GPS watch had no criminal record, was part of a plea deal with federal
to him disguised as a food not considered a leader and prosecutors. She also surren- narcotics trafficker. worked for him,” said pros-
item, prosecutors said dur- was not involved with vio- dered $1.5 million. ecutor Anthony Nardozzi,
ing a hearing in federal court lence. She also helped buy land who called her a “cog in a
in Washington. That helped The charges include know- for the tunnel and smuggle very large wheel.”
those digging the tunnel Defense attorneys also point- ingly and willfully conspiring Guzman’s messages to his
pinpoint his location and ed out she was a 17-year-old to distribute heroin, cocaine, subordinates while he was in The 32-year-old was arrested
reach him. The leader of the from an impoverished fam- marijuana and metham- prison, which allowed him to in February at Dulles Inter-
Sinaloa cartel was recaptured ily when she met Guzman phetamine for several years. stay in control of the Sinaloa national Airport in Virginia
the following year. and married him on her 18th She also pleaded guilty to a cartel while behind bars. and has been jailed since
birthday. “This began when money-laundering conspir- then. She will also serve four
Prosecutors had asked for she was a very impressionable acy charge and to engaging “He chose her to move those years of supervised release af-
four years in prison, but minor married to a powerful in transactions with a foreign messages to people who ter the prison sentence.

Atlanta mayoral runoff: Moore hopes to stave off Dickens

(AP) — Atlanta voters are he started well back in the to go against the grain proves up your sleeves and finding a jail to relieve overcrowding,
deciding Tuesday’s may- field. she’s someone who will bring way to say yes.” while Moore said she’d con-
oral runoff between one accountability and transpar- sider letting the county take
candidate who is comfort- Mayor Keisha Lance Bot- ency to city government. Dickens has reaped a slew of over the jail permanently.
able as a lone wolf and an- toms created a wide-open endorsements. He already
other who has acquired a succession race when she “I stepped into this race at a had the nod of former Mayor Dickens voted for a failed
bunch of new friends. announced in May that she time when no one else had Shirley Franklin before Nov. measure that would have
wouldn’t seek a second term. the courage to do it, to move 2. Since then, he’s picked up withheld a third of the police
Current City Council Presi- That successor could have the city forward, to help us support from Bottoms, U.S. department’s budget until the
dent Felicia Moore proclaims been former Mayor Kasim at a time when we certainly Rep. and Democratic Party mayor came up with a plan to
her independence as a vir- Reed, but his hopes for a third have critical issues before us,” of Georgia Chair Nikema overhaul the police depart-
tue, and a plurality of vot- term ended when he nar- Moore said during a Nov. 16 Williams, Fulton County ment. Moore, who only votes
ers agreed in the first round rowly finished third behind debate. “I want to be our next District Attorney Fani Willis when the council is tied, said
of voting on Nov. 2, giving Dickens. Reed was dogged mayor because I can make and Sharon Gay, an attorney she opposed the measure and
her 41% of the votes across a by corruption in his previous those tough decisions.” who finished fourth in Nov. accused Dickens of favoring
nonpartisan field of 14 candi- administration, although he 2 voting. defunding the police. Dick-
dates. said he himself was clean. Dickens has portrayed Moore ens denies that was his aim.
as a naysayer, someone who Like many cities across the
But fellow City Council Moore jumped into the race has been unable to work with country, Atlanta has been Some opponents of Moore
member Andre Dickens says even before Bottoms bowed others. dealing with a spike in kill- attacked her as the favorite of
Moore’s record as a some- out, saying becoming mayor ings. As of Nov. 7, homicides white voters, a frequent tactic
times-lonely critic of previ- was the best way to solve “You constantly don’t find rose 10% over the same pe- in a city where many white
ous mayors proves he would complaints she was getting a way to say yes,” Dickens riod last year and 59% com- and Black voters are divided
be a more effective mayor, as about crime and city services. said during the debate. “Real pared with 2019, Atlanta po- by income and geography.
he tries to win a race where Moore argues her willingness leadership looks like rolling lice data shows. Several of Both Moore and Dickens
those killings captured wide- are Black, and Moore has
spread attention. dismissed that her support
should be held against her.
Moore and Dickens have
both focused on getting more “We are in a position in the
officers onto the street quick- city to start to bring people
ly. But they differ on some together,” Moore said recent-
other details. Moore has said ly, arguing she is “someone
she’d immediately seek a new who can talk across divides,
police chief, while Dickens someone who can talk to
has said he might keep cur- people in the streets as well as
rent Chief Rodney Bryant, the suites.”
who came out of retirement
in 2020 after the previous Moore said her support in
chief stepped down follow- the wealthier, whiter section
ing a fatal police shooting of a called Buckhead would be
Black man that led to unrest. an asset in trying to squelch
a secession movement in the
Dickens has said he’s willing area, an effort likely to preoc-
to let Fulton County tempo- cupy the first year of the next
rarily use a mostly empty city mayor’s term.