El Chapo trial: Joaquín Guzman joked about arming infant daughter with AK47 in texts to wife, court hears

The trial of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman will resume in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday.

Tirso Martinez Sanchez, the fifth informant to testify against Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, testified on Monday that the the alleged kingpin came up with the elaborate drug smuggling route into New York. The smuggling scheme involved hiding 15 to 20 tons of cocaine in rail tanker cars with secret compartments. 

Mr Sanchez said El Chapo informed him of the plan in a secret meeting in a cabin near Toluca, Mexico, shortly after his notorious escape from prison in 2001. 

“I was the inventor of that route,” El Chapo allegedly told Mr Sanchez.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of El Chapo, told Telemundo on Monday that she never saw her husband do anything unlawful when they were together. 

In a rare interview with the Spanish-speaking network, the former Mexican beauty queen pointed the finger at the media for portraying El Chapo as a murderous drug kingpin.

"[The media] made him too famous," Ms Aispuro said. "They [the media] don’t want to bring him down from the pedestal."

Ms Aispuro said El Chapo liked the notoriety he was getting from the media coverage. 

"You have to be honest, I think he did like it, he does like it a little," she added.

Prosecutors admitted several clips of Rolling Stone's interview with El Chapo today as evidence in his trial.  The interview was conducted by actor Sean Penn. The notorious drug lord videotaped his responses in a clandestine location while he was still in hiding.

Here is the full video of the interview:

One of El Chapo's former employees, Tirso Martinez Sanchez, testified against Guzman on Monday. During his testimony, he explained that El Chapo was in charge of drug-trafficking train route. The train carried legitimate-looking cooking oil, which traffickers would siphon off and replace with cocaine. Mr Sanchez says that the train route got the Sinaloa cartel somewhere between $500 million and $800 million, by distributing the drugs to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. 

In 2017, Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas was murdered for his coverage of the Sinaloa cartel, VICE News explains. He had covered infighting that took place in the Sinaloa cartel after El Chapo was extradited, and was shot 12 times. 

The people who allegedly ordered the killing of Mr Cárdenas may receive reduced sentences for agreeing to testify against El Chapo, 

Jorge Cifuentes, a former employee of El Chapo, testified against him today, divulging deep secrets of the Sinaloa cartel. He explained the cartel's encrypted communication system, a 6-ton cocaine shipment from Ecuador to Mexico, and aborted plans to use an oil tanker to bring coke across the border.

Jorge Cifuentes continued to testify today, and admitted to being involved in several crimes himself. He said that he ordered three murders and attempted one murder himself by sprinkling cyanide over an arepa, which he expected the target to eat. However, the target ate a different arepa and survived the attempt.

VICE's Keegan Hamilton is at the courthouse, liveblogging Mr Cifuentes' testimony. Mr Cifuentes testifies during an anecdote that he once wanted to stop working with El Chapo to dedicate his life to a philanthropic organisation. However, his motivations were not completely pure. 

Cifuentes will be back to testify tomorrow morning, with a cross-examination from El Chapo's lawyer.