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

Cross-examination began with El Chapo’s attorney questioning Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa about his life of crimes and lies, to which he acknowledged he had been deceitful and involved in criminal activity since he was a child. 

Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa revealed he grew up poor and lived with his father, who smuggled contraband and worked as a truck driver. 

His family owned a farm in which some of their processing of coca leaves into cocaine base occurred, with his brother, Alex, assisting in the process. 

Chapo’s defence attorney ridiculed Jorge for claiming his family had “typically family problems,” pointing out that his brother had ordered the murder of their nephew after he attempted to kidnap their mother. 

The lawyer prodded at Jorge with a quip: “Typical family problems,” he said with a reportedly sarcastic tone. 

Jorge has been at least somewhat forthright in acknowledging his various crimes during this cross-examination process with Chapo’s attorney. 

At one point, he raised his hand and said “guilty” with a smirk after the lawyer asked him whether he used “straw purchasers” in order to purchase property. 

Jorge said one of his first crimes was lying about his age for a driver’s license and maintained a catalogue of fake IDs. He used those IDs to carry out further crimes, like a 15-ton hashish deal that he negotiated in Paris before headed to Montreal. 

The cross-examination has been limited at times by the judge.

Some of the stories revealed throughout the El Chapo trial reflect the dangerous and violent world of drug trafficking, including an account from 1997 in which Colombian trafficker Humberto Ojeda was targeted by assassins who opened fire on him at a gas station. 

One of the 40 bullets shot at him hit his heart, but his daughter — who was in the car during the attack — managed to survive the assassination unharmed. Ojeda drove the car a short distance back to his home before dying beside his daughter. 

There will no hearing today in the Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman trial today. Court will resume on Monday.

Hello and welcome back to our coverage of the El Chapo trail. 

At the end of last week, prosecutors were questioning Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa, a Colombian drug trafficker, who said he had contacts with the Sinaloa cartel.

Guzman's defence team ending the week by questioning him, that will likely continue this morning.

One of the more interesting pieces of evidence introduced during the testimony of Jorge Cifuentes was a phone call said to be between El Chapo and a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

In the call - which prosecutors said was from May 2010 - involved a negotiation over a six-tonne shipment of cocaine.

Jorge Cifuentes provided a commentary for the jury on this exchange 

In one exchange, after Guzman had initially spoken of buying two and a half tons of coke in cash, he seamlessly changed the amount to two tons.

“First of all, he’s a really good businessman, because he’s saying he’s going to pay for two, not two and a half,” Cifuentes told the court.