The Guardian

A naked escape and bribed presidents: El Chapo trial's shocking testimony

A New York court has heard how the Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán eluded capture with his mistress while paying millions to politicians and police
Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López, girlfriend of accused Mexican drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, second right, testifies as Guzmán’s wife, Emma Coronel, right, looks on. Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

That Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán – on trial in New York for heading the world’s biggest drug cartel – escaped a raid through a tunnel beneath his bath is legend; what is not known is that he did so stark naked with the mistress with whom he was abed when the Mexican marines arrived.

That Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel bribed politicians and senior military officers is presumed by most Mexicans; that he bribed presidents would surprise few – what we had not heard is that he allegedly haggled down a presidential demand for $250m protection money to $100m.

But this is what emerges as Guzmán’s prosecutors home in

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