The indictment and defense of the country's top drug trafficker, extradited and tried in the United States, Chapo Guzman, are to file arguments on Tuesday in a New York court at the start of his trial, a landmark in Washington's long war on trafficking drugs.
The 12 grand juries and six surrogates were selected last week after tense interrogations in which at least five people were dismissed for fearing for their lives, and one of them suffered a panic attack that causes her to be taken to the hospital.
To preserve their safety, jurors will be escorted every day by armed agents to court and their names will be kept anonymous.
With appliances and dogs trained to detect gas and explosives, dozens of police enforce surveillance in the Brooklyn courtroom.
Feared Mexican drug boss Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman is accused of leading the world's largest drug cartel and sending about 155 tons of cocaine to the United States for 25 years.
At the trial, which could take months, the prosecution must ask El Chapo, 61, for life.
"This is an emblematic case for the government, not only because of the alleged crimes of the accused, but because it is an example to be given in the United States war against international drug trafficking," said Rene Sotorrio, a Miami lawyer who defends the Rivera brothers Maradiaga, former leaders of the Honduran cartel Los Cachiros, who can testify against Chapo.
Great secrecy surrounds the case. "There would be dozens and dozens of individuals who somehow did business with the Chapo organization and offered themselves as witnesses against it," according to Sotorrio.
Witnesses in prison or witness protection program can achieve a significant reduction in sentencing, but the prosecution says they and their families are life-threatening.
In his Manhattan cell, El Chapo spent 22 months alone 23 hours a day. The only ones who can visit him are his seven-year-old lawyers and his twin daughters, but only through a glass wall.
Extradited from Mexico in January 2017, El Chapo is accused of leading the ruthless Sinaloa cartel between 1989 and 2014, which he founded and became the "largest drug trafficking organization in the world," according to the indictment.
The prosecutor, who has been preparing the case for several years, asserts that El Chapo sent the United States at least 154,626 kilos of cocaine, along with several tons of other drugs, pocketing 14 billion dollars.
