Page 5 - ARUBA TODAY

A5
U.S. NEWS Thursday 18 July 2019
Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman sentenced

to life in prison

By TOM HAYS and CLAUDIA
TORRENS
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Mexican
drug kingpin and escape
artist Joaquin "El Chapo"
Guzman was sentenced
Wednesday to life behind
bars in a U.S. prison, ex-
pressing no remorse over
his conviction for a mas-
sive drug conspiracy that
spread murder and may-
hem for more than two de-
cades.
Instead, a defiant Guz-
man took a parting shot at
a judge in federal court in
Brooklyn by accusing him
of making a mockery of
the U.S. justice system in re-
fusing to order a new trial
based on unsubstantiated
allegations of juror miscon-
duct. In this courtroom sketch, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, foreground right, reads a statement through
"My case was stained and an interpreter during his sentencing in federal court, Wednesday, July 17, 2019, in New York.
you denied me a fair trial Associated Press
when the whole world was
watching," Guzman said She claimed he put out a They also said his "army of stayed one step ahead
through an interpreter. $1 million bounty to have sicarios" was under orders of the law, the jury never
Experts say he will likely wind her killed. to kidnap, torture and mur- heard from Guzman him-
up at the federal govern- "Fortunately, I found out der anyone who got in his self, except when he told
ment's Supermax prison in and escaped with the help way. the judge he wouldn't tes-
Florence, Colorado, where of the FBI," she said. The defense argued he was tify.
inmates are held alone for Guzman had no visible re- framed by other traffickers But evidence at Guzman's
23 hours a day and have action at hearing his sen- who became government trial suggested his decision
little human interaction. tence. As he stood to be witnesses so they could get to stay quiet at the defense
"Since the government will led out of the courtroom, breaks in their own cases. table was against his na-
send me to a jail where he put his hand on his heart They also claimed his trial ture: Cooperating witness-
my name will not ever be and waved to family mem- was tainted by jurors im- es told jurors he was a fan
heard again, I take this op- bers. properly viewing media of his own rags-to-riches
portunity to say there was Outside court, U.S. Attorney coverage of the highly narco story, always eager
no justice here," he said. Richard Donoghue told re- publicized case. to find an author or screen-
The 62-year-old drug lord porters: "Never again will "A fair outcome was a fair writer to tell it. He famous-
- sporting his trademark Guzman pour poison over trial - that's all we wanted," ly gave an interview to
moustache after being our borders." defense attorney Jeffrey American actor Sean Penn
clean-shaven during his The term - life plus 30 years Lichtman told reporters while he was a fugitive, hid-
trial - also used what could - was a foregone conclu- Wednesday outside the ing in the mountains after
be his last chance to speak sion. The guilty verdict on federal courthouse. "It was accomplices built a long
in public by complaining drug-trafficking charges not justice. We can't have tunnel to help him escape
about being kept in solitary in February triggered a a situation where the jurors from a Mexican prison.
confinement since he was mandatory sentence of are running around lying to At the trial, Guzman's law-
brought to the U.S. to stand life without parole . Cogan a judge about what they yers argued he was the
trial after twice breaking also ordered Guzman to were doing." fall guy for other kingpins
out of Mexican prisons. pay $12.6 billion in ill-gotten Guzman has been largely who were better at paying
Before handing down proceeds - money his drug- cut off from the outside off top Mexican politicians
the sentence, U.S. District trafficking organization world since his extradi- and law enforcement of-
Judge Brian Cogan said made distributing cocaine tion in 2017. U.S. authorities ficials to protect them
Guzman's complaints were and other drugs around the have kept him in an ultra- while the U.S. government
minor given the "mountain United States. secure unit at a Manhattan looked the other way. They
range of evidence" against The evidence at an 11- jail and under close guard said witnesses' descriptions
him detailing conduct he week trial showed that at his appearances at the of El Chapo leading a lav-
described as "evil." Guzman's Sinaloa cartel Brooklyn courthouse where ish lifestyle featuring private
On Wednesday, the judge was responsible for smug- his case unfolded. planes, beachfront villas
heard from one of Guz- gling mountains of cocaine While the trial was dominat- and a private zoo were
man's alleged victims, An- and other drugs into the ed by Guzman's persona overblown, and that there's
drea Velez Fernandez, who United States during his as a near-mythical outlaw no chance the U.S. gover-
once worked for him until 25-year reign, prosecutors who carried a diamond- ment could collect the mul-
she made his enemy list. said in recent court papers. encrusted handgun and tibillion-dollar forfeiture.q