Mexican drug lord Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known as El Chapo, has been accused of raping girls as young as 13 on multiple occasions at one of his properties.

Court documents revealed for the first time last week say Guzman paid an associate $5,000 for each girl, and called the youngest among them his “vitamins”, as they gave him “life”.

The allegations are made by a person referred to in the documents as “cooperating witness No 1”, understood to be Alex Cifuentes – one of Guzman’s former close associates and who testified that the drug baron boasted of paying former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto a bribe of $100m.

Cifuentes said a person named “Commadre Maria”, sent photographs of underage girls to Guzman, so he could select them and they would be taken to one of his ranches in Sinaloa on the west coast of Mexico.

The release of the documents which reveal the alleged sex lives and also beliefs in alternative medicine among gang members, come as the jury in New York are beginning deliberations after Guzman’s two-month trial.

Inside Mexico’s top drug lord El Chapo’s hideout Show all 4 1 /4 Inside Mexico’s top drug lord El Chapo’s hideout Inside Mexico’s top drug lord El Chapo’s hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Pictures reveal how the Mexican drug lord had been living since his escape Getty Inside Mexico’s top drug lord El Chapo’s hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout The inside of a house searched by marine special forces where Guzman was hiding Getty Inside Mexico’s top drug lord El Chapo’s hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Inside a house searched by marine special forces during the military operation to recapture Guzman Getty Inside Mexico’s top drug lord El Chapo’s hideout El Chapo's attempted escape A marine stands guard next to a manhole of the sewer system through which drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman tried to escape Getty

One of Guzman’s lawyers described the rape allegations as “extremely salacious”, and questioned the timing of the documents’ release.

The details had remained hidden during the trial as prosecutors did not believe they were relevant to Guzman’s drug trafficking charges, according to The Washington Post.

But the documents were unsealed following letters from media organisations including The New York Times and Vice News complaining about the opacity of the trial.

Prosecutors said there was no longer a requirement to keep the documents secret because the identities of cooperating witnesses mentioned in the records have been made public.

The documents also reveal Cifuentes beliefs and his relationship with Guzman. Cifuentes said he lived with Guzman from 2007 – 2008, and they had both raped underage girls. He told officials he had helped Guzman drug some of the girls.

Intercepted phone calls revealed Cifuentes bought snake oil from witch doctors, and had interests in the Illuminati, Freemasonry and UFOs, the documents say.

Guzman “denies the allegations, which lack any corroboration and were deemed too prejudicial and unreliable to be admitted at trial”, his attorney Eduardo Balarezo said in a statement.

He added: “It is unfortunate that the material was publicly released just prior to the jury beginning deliberations.”

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events