Mexican lawmaker stripped of immunity in ‘El Chapo’ case

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexico’s congress has stripped the immunity of a state lawmaker tied to drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman so that she can be prosecuted.

The lower chamber voted 414 in favor with 37 abstentions Monday to make Sinaloa state lawmaker Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez available for prosecution.

The Attorney General’s Office alleges that Sanchez used a false identification document to visit Guzman in the maximum security prison in September 2014.

Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, escaped from that prison in July 2015 through a mile-long tunnel. He was recaptured in in January.

Investigator Arturo Ruiz told legislators that authorities also found Sanchez’s driver’s license inside a vehicle parked inside the last safe house Guzman occupied before his recapture.

Sanchez has denied any connection to Guzman.