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

'El Chapo's' lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman sought to shift blame in his opening statement to Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, another reputed drug trafficker in the Sinaloa Cartel who is still at large in Mexico.

The lawyer claimed that unlike Guzman, Zambada remains on the loose because of bribes that "go up to the very top," including hundreds of millions of dollars paid to the current and former presidents of Mexico.

He also suggested US law enforcement turned a blind eye to the situation.

Mr Fels claimed that Guzman moved so much coke that just four of his shipments could provide "more than a line of cocaine for every single person in the United States."

Defence lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman sought to shift blame in his opening to Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, another reputed drug trafficker in the cartel.

Mr Lichtman said of El Mayo: "He bribes the entire government of Mexico, including up to the very top, the current president of Mexico."

In his opening statement Mr Lichtman claimed El Mayo's brother and two sons are cooperating with the US government, and alleged that "they work together when it suits them, Mayo and the US government."

We are currently waiting to hear the judge's decision on the prosecutor's request to throw out the opening statement from El Chapo's defence team. 

The statement accused Mexican presidents of being bribed by other Sinaloa Cartel leaders.

The defence branded the motion "entirely without merit".

In the defence's opening statement - which prosecutors have asked to be thrown out - El Chapo was portrayed as a scapegoat for the real leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

"He's blamed for being the leader while the real leaders are living freely and openly in Mexico ... In truth he controlled nothing. Mayo Zambada did."

Mr Lichtman also said that Zambada had been left free because he "bribes the entire government of Mexico including up to the very top, the current president of Mexico," Enrique Pena Nieto.

Judge Cogan has not entirely thrown out the defence team's opening statement - as prosecutors requested - but did say Guzman's lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman went "far afield of direct or circumstantial proof."

"Your opening statement handed out a promissory note that your case is not going to cash," the judge said, and instructed the jury to focus on the evidence. 

Mr Lichtman said yesterday in his opening statement: "This is a case that will require you to throw out much of what you were taught to believe in about the way governments work and how they behave, governments in South and Central American and Mexico and even the United States ... This is a case which will require you to open your minds to the possibility that government officials at the very highest level can be bribed, can conspire to commit horrible crimes - that American law enforcement agents can also be crooked."

A spokesman for Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto called the allegations "completely false and defamatory." Former President Felipe Calderon dismissed them as "absolutely false and reckless." 

Mr Lichtman - Guzman's defence lawyer - has resumed his opening statement, describing "the myth of El Chapo" as "very strong." He said law enforcement agents had his client autograph $100 bills for them upon his arrest. 

"Mr. Guzman was somebody who enjoyed the publicity," Mr Lichtman said. "He enjoyed the notoriety." 

The defence attorney also described the government's witnesses as liars seeking to mitigate their own jail sentences. "They're here because they want to get out of jail by any means necessary," Mr Lichtman said. 

Given the allegations made by Guzman's defence team, Judge Cogan has reminded the jury that the "government's motivations are not on trial."