Sean Penn’s interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been criticized by the Obama administration and Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio.
The interview was conducted in October in the Mexican jungle after El Chapo Guzman’s jail break, and published by Rolling Stone magazine.
A White House spokesman said Sean Penn’s “so-called interview” was “maddening”, while Marco Rubio said it was “grotesque”.
El Chapo (Shorty) Guzman, 58, was recaptured on January 8 after months on the run.
Unnamed Mexican officials say Sean Penn’s secret meeting helped lead them to the boss of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
El Chapo Guzman has now been returned to the maximum-security Altiplano jail, from where he escaped in July 2015 via a tunnel dug to the shower in his cell.
In the Rolling Stone article, the result of a seven-hour “sit-down”, El Chapo Guzman said he was the world’s leading supplier of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told CNN: “One thing I will tell you is that this braggadocious action about how much heroin he sends around the world, including the United States, is maddening.
“We see a heroin epidemic, an opioid addiction epidemic, in this country… But El Chapo’s behind bars – that’s where he should stay.”
The Mexican authorities would not say whether they would investigate Sean Penn and a Mexican actress, Kate del Castillo, who apparently arranged the interview.
Denis McDonough declined to answer a question about whether the US would hand Sean Penn over to Mexico for questioning.
“Well, it poses a lot of very interesting questions both for him and for others involved in this-so-called interview, so we’ll see what happens on that – I’m not going to get ahead of it,” he said.
Marco Rubio told ABC: “If one of these American actors who have benefited from the greatness of this country, who have made money from our free enterprise system, want to go fawn all over a criminal and a drug trafficker in their interviews, they have a constitutional right to do it. I find it grotesque.”
Mexico has said it will begin the process of extraditing El Chapo Guzman to the US, in line with extradition requests from 2015.
He is charged with smuggling vast amounts of drugs into the US.
No detail has been given about the timeframe for extradition but experts say the process could take months.
Mexico and the US have an extradition treaty but there are many steps that need to be taken and officials who need to approve the request.
Previous requests from the US have been turned down.
El Chapo Guzman, who was named Public Enemy Number One by the Chicago Crime Commission in 2013, has been indicted by at least seven US federal district courts.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been recaptured by Mexican authorities, six months after he escaped from a maximum-security jail.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted: “Mission accomplished: We got him.”
El Chapo (Shorty) Guzman, one of the world’s most-wanted drug lords, smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines to the US through the Sinaloa cartel he led.
He escaped from jail through a mile-long tunnel dug in the showers.
President Enrique Pena Nieto described Joaquin Guzman’s arrest as a “victory against impunity” and said it showed Mexicans could have confidence in the state’s ability to guarantee law and order.
“There is no group that it is impossible to confront,” he said.
El Chapo Guzman was apprehended following a shoot-out with Mexican marines in Los Mochis, a coastal city in his home state of Sinaloa, in north-west Mexico, the president said.
Five people are thought to have been killed in the raid, which involved the army and navy as well as police.
The US congratulated the Mexican government but did not indicate whether prosecutors would seek El Chapo Guzman’s extradition.
In a statement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Joaquin Guzman had caused “significant violence, suffering and corruption on multiple continents”.
El Chapo Guzman’s July escape was his second – he was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and escaped from Puente Grande jail in 2001, reportedly in a laundry basket after bribing officials.
He was on the run for 13 years before being held again in 2014.
Authorities located him several days ago based on reports that he was in the Los Mochis area.
In October, Mexican officials said they had “broken up” and arrested the group responsible for helping him escape.
El Chapo Guzman’s wealth is estimated at $1 billion.
Despite being the leader of one of the world’s most powerful and violent drug cartels, El Chapo Guzman was seen by some in Sinaloa – where there are few job opportunities – as a modern-day Robin Hood figure who could offer more security to people than the government.
Following his escape, shopkeepers began selling souvenirs such as baseball caps branded with “El Chapo”.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman suffered face and leg injuries as he narrowly evaded a police operation to recapture him, Mexican officials have confirmed.
The operation happened in north-west Mexico in recent days but few details have been released.
El Chapo Guzman, aka Shorty, head of the Sinaloa cartel, escaped from a high-security prison in July through a specially dug tunnel.
His escape was an embarrassment for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The Mexican government said in a statement that efforts to recapture El Chapo Guzman had been focused in the north-west of the country, not far from Guzman’s native Sinaloa state.
“As a result of these actions, and to avoid his capture, in recent days, the fugitive engaged in a hasty retreat, which, according to the information received, caused him injuries to one leg and the face,” the statement said.
“It’s important to clarify that these injuries were not a product of a direct clash,” it added, without giving further details.
The statement added: “The security cabinet continues to conduct all actions that will allow the recapture of this criminal.”
Mexico has arrested several prison officials since El Chapo Guzman’s escape.
Investigators said El Chapo Guzman had inside help to flee through a tunnel that ran one mile from under a shower in his cell to outside the prison.
After his escape, El Chapo Guzman took to Twitter to taunt the police and insult President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The drug lord was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and spent nearly a decade in another maximum-security Mexican jail before escaping, reportedly in a laundry basket.
El Chapo Guzman was on the run for 13 years before being held again in 2014 after a series of high-profile arrests of associates and covert surveillance by the US authorities.
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