Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López reappeared publicly after several years away from the spotlight and claimed that her relationship with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was marked by fear, manipulation, and physical violence.
The former Sinaloa legislator, identified for years as “La Chapodiputada” (“The Chapo Congresswoman”), said she wishes she could completely erase the episode that changed her life and ultimately led her to prison in the United States.
During a radio interview, Sánchez López said it all began in 2010, when she was just 20 years old and accepted an alleged job offer as a stylist in the mountains of Durango, within the area known as the Golden Triangle, a region historically linked to operations of the Sinaloa Cartel.
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According to her account, a collaborator of the criminal group took her to the community of El Carrizo de la Petaca, where she remained for several days on a ranch without really knowing who had brought her there.
Later, she said, a group of armed men requested her services as a stylist. It was in that context that she first met Joaquín Guzmán Loera.
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The relationship with the then-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel quickly evolved into a romantic and emotionally dependent bond that, according to her account, lasted nearly nine years.
“If I could change fate, I definitely would not travel to Carrizo La Petaca,” the former lawmaker said, maintaining that decision irreversibly changed her personal and professional life.
From Stylist to Congresswoman, “La Chapodiputada” Reappears
One of the most delicate episodes recounted by Sánchez López occurred when she discovered that Guzmán Loera had installed hidden cameras and microphones in her vehicle to monitor her.
The former legislator explained that she confronted the drug trafficker using a weapon that he himself had given her for protection. During the struggle, the gun went off and the bullet grazed the Sinaloa capo’s ear.
After the incident, Lucero Sánchez said she suffered severe physical abuse. According to her testimony, she managed to escape thanks to the help of one of Guzmán’s associates, who intervened after hearing the gunshot.
Her account matches versions presented years earlier during “El Chapo’s” federal trial in New York, where Sánchez López participated as a cooperating witness for U.S. authorities.
Lucero Sánchez’s name became national news in 2015 after it was revealed that she entered the federal Altiplano prison to visit Guzmán Loera using false documents.
At first, the then-congresswoman denied the visit; however, she later admitted to the meeting. The episode triggered investigations into possible political ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and led to her removal from office immunity.
In her most recent interview, Sánchez López claimed that the visit was part of a strategy designed by people in “El Chapo’s” inner circle to divert public attention while preparations were underway for the criminal leader’s escape from the maximum-security prison.
The former lawmaker also recalled accompanying Guzmán Loera during his escape in February 2014 in Culiacán, when the drug lord fled through a system of tunnels and drainage channels before being recaptured months later.
She also questioned the authenticity of recent letters allegedly written by “El Chapo” and supposedly sent to Judge Brian Cogan from the United States requesting his repatriation to Mexico.
Sánchez López said she knows the capo’s handwriting perfectly because of the letters she still keeps and claimed that the recently released documents do not match Guzmán Loera’s handwriting.
Context
Currently, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is serving a life sentence at the ADX Florence maximum-security prison in Colorado, while Lucero Sánchez is attempting to rebuild her public life through interviews and the publication of her autobiographical book.
Lucero Sánchez has a son with Guzmán Loera and currently lives in the United States, where she released “La Chapo diputada: Mi historia con el señor de la montaña” (“The Chapo Congresswoman: My Story With the Lord of the Mountain”), although the testimony was first published in Mexico in 2024.
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