Juliana Lopez, a footballer who planned to compete in the Miss World contest after winning beauty contests in Colombia, talks about her situation in a Chinese prison after her 15-year sentence for cocaine trafficking.
In 2015, the former Colombian Divas Football Club player and her ex-boyfriend Juan Esteban Marin were arrested at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport with 610 grams of cocaine hidden in a computer.
Footballer and model Juliana Lopez escaped death penalty after being sentenced in China
Juliana Lopez avoided the death penalty, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and could be released in 2026 (four years earlier than planned).
According to the newspaper Nanfang Daily, his good attitude and remorse during the judicial process influenced the decision not to impose life imprisonment or the death penalty.
The letter from footballer Juliana Lopez to her mother from a Chinese prison: “The situation is stressful”
The former soccer player, who was arrested at the age of 21 and is now 31 years old, wrote a letter to her mother in 2021 that has been published four years later by the Colombian media outlet ‘La Red‘.
“Love of my loves, my mother, I miss you like nothing else in the world. Here people are amazed and tell me that I have many people who love me,” wrote Juliana Lopez to Nubia Sarrazola, who traveled to China to be close to her daughter during her captivity.
“For better or worse, so many people are still watching us, but I see it as a blessing from God. The situation here is getting more and more stressful,” said the former soccer player, who stressed that during her first six years imprisoned in China she devoted herself to studying and working.
Juliana Lopez, who has also worked in the manufacture of motors for fans and dryers in prison, shares that she suffers “a lot of work pressure. Now every month we have an exam. So, also pressure studying”.
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