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"I haven't seen him in more than five years," Maria Consuelo Loera Perez, who describes herself as a "distressed and worried mother," said.
The defense team of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman confirmed Tuesday that the cartel boss's mother sent a letter of appeal to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) for his intervention in order for her to obtain a U.S. humanitarian visa so she may visit her son.
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"I haven't seen him in more than five years," Maria Consuelo Loera Perez, who describes herself as a "distressed and worried mother," said, according to a photocopy of the letter presented at a press conference by lawyer Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza.
Gonzalez says the letter was delivered after an official ceremony that took place on February 15, and that Lopez Obrador physically accepted it.
"We are asking for your brave intervention so that, through its embassy, the North American government will authorize humanitarian visas for myself, and my daughters Armida and Bernada Guzman Loera," the mother of the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, said.
Cartel member Jesus Zambada testified in November that he paid a multimillion-dollar bribe to one of the president’s current aides, in 2005. Another cartel member, Alex Cifuentes, also claimed to have paid a US$100 million bribe to former president Enrique Peña Nieto.
A judge in New York found Guzman guilty on 10 counts of drug-trafficking, last week.
In June, El Chapo is expected to begin a non-negotiable life sentence at the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado. While the Mexican drug kingpin is sentenced to spending the remainder of his life behind bars, Guzman's long-time partner Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada is rumored to have taken over the operations of the Sinaloa Cartel.
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