A source quoted by Reuters said Mexican authorities were considering investigating Penn and Castillo, but some reports suggest the interview with Penn also aided law enforcement officials in tracking down Guzman.
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Mexico’s attorney general said the government plans to extradite him to the U.S.
The Oscar-winning actor tracked El Chapo to his Mexican hideout for a meeting coordinated by Mexican actress Kate del Castillo.
Top officials in the party of President Enrique Pena Nieto also floated the idea of extradition, which they had flatly ruled out before Guzman’s embarrassing escape from Mexico’s top maximum security prison on July 11 – his second from a Mexican prison. “We’ll see what happens”.
In it, the actor describes the complicated security measures he took to meet the drug lord.
It is thought that the Mexican government was able to use the interview in order to find the kingpin.
Mexican authorities said Friday night that Guzmán had been caught partly because he had been planning a movie about his life, and had contacted actors and producers, which had helped the authorities to track him down.
Guzman, who once met Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, confided he had not himself taken drugs for 20 years, and at the time, before his capture, considered himself a happy person “because of my freedom”.
An agent for del Castillo has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
“The follow-up work allowed us to document meetings between attorneys of the now-detainee and these people”, she said.
Penn and Guzman met face-to-face for several hours and then weeks later the Mexican criminal answered questions on camera which Penn sent via his mobile phone.
June 10, 1993: El Chapo was captured on the first occasion in Guatemala.
“Sean Penn is not someone I spend a lot of time thinking about”, Rubio said.
In the interview, Guzman said that he began this way of life when he was 15 and he openly boasted about his business.
The encounter adds a new twist to the long and larger-than-life career of Guzman, whose nickname “Chapo” means “Shorty”.
“The day I don’t exist, it’s not going to decrease in any way at all”, he said, according to Penn.
In a text message exchange days after their meeting, Guzman discusses a marine helicopter raid that nearly captured him on October 6. He downplayed injuries to his face and leg reported by the authorities, saying: “Not like they said”.
Well, as for being free, – happy, because freedom is really nice, and pressure, well, for me it’s normal, because i’ve had to be careful for a few years now in certain and, no, I don’t feel anything that hurts my health or my mind.
Penn writes in the Rolling Stone article, “As an American citizen, I’m drawn to explore what may be inconsistent with the portrayals our government and media brand upon their declared enemies”.
A USA extradition request made before Guzman’s recapture is still active, and the attorney general’s office, a Mexican judge and the Foreign Ministry will all be involved in its review, according to three officials, who asked not to be named talking about the administration’s private deliberations.
Early Saturday, reporters swarmed the coastal city of Los Mochis where Guzman was apprehended.
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He was recaptured in the northwestern city of Los Mochis on Friday following a bloody shootout and frantic search in which the wily kingpin nearly gave pursuers the slip again.
