Maria Consuelo Loera, the mother of the infamous Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, passed away at the age of 95, as confirmed by family members and local media sources.
Her demise occurred on Sunday at a private hospital in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, the stronghold of her son’s powerful drug trafficking cartel.
The cause of death was complications arising weeks after gallbladder surgery, as reported by both family members and the media.
Notably, Loera became embroiled in controversy following her encounter with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during his visit to the state in March 2020.
The President approached her car to offer greetings, a move that garnered significant criticism aimed at the leader.
At that time, Obrador defended his action, asserting that the elderly woman “deserves all my respect regardless of who her son is.”
“If I shake hands with white-collar criminals, how can I not shake hands with a lady?” he said.
In their meeting, Loera handed a letter to Obrador, seeking assistance in obtaining a humanitarian visa to visit her son in the United States.
Her son, serving a life sentence for drug trafficking since 2019, was the reason for her request.
Regrettably, she never managed to undertake the journey to visit him.
When questioned about her passing during his morning press conference on Monday, Obrador expressed his condolences.
“I respect the family… Any human being who loses her life deserves respect and also consideration for the relatives, to everyone,” he said. “No human is alien to me.”
