Sean Penn says he has no regrets regarding his secret interview with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The actor has been asked by the AP if he was worried about images that claimed to show Mexican officials watching him before the visit.
“I’ve got nothin’ to hide,” Sean Penn wrote back in an email.
Mexican drug lord El Chapo Guzman was captured on January 8, three months after their meeting and six months after escaping from prison.
Sean Penn did not answer questions about whether he should have let El Chapo Guzman read his story in advance of publication, or whether he did enough to protect his source.
The actor was criticized for the interview – a White House spokesman said it was “maddening”, while Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio said it was “grotesque”.
The US has filed a request for El Chapo Guzman to be extradited to face charges of smuggling vast amounts of drugs into the country.
On January 11, Mexican officials said the process to extradite El Chapo Guzman to the US could take at least a year.
Sean Penn’s interview with El Chapo Guzman was conducted in the Mexican jungle, and unnamed Mexican officials have said the meeting helped them catch the 58-year-old boss of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
El Chapo Guzman has been returned to the maximum-security Altipano jail.
In July, he had escaped from there via a tunnel dug to the shower in his cell.
In the Rolling Stone magazine article, El Chapo Guzman said he was the world’s leading supplier of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.
The Mexican authorities have not said whether they would investigate Sean Penn and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo who arranged the interview with El Chapo Guzman.
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.
Sean Penn interviewed Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman at a secret location soon after his jail break.
The interview, conducted in October in the Mexican jungle, is published in January 9 edition of Rolling Stone magazine.
El Chapo (Shorty) Guzman escaped from the maximum security Altiplano jail in July and was recaptured on January 8.
According to Mexican officials, Sean Penn’s secret meeting helped lead them to the fugitive who is back in Altiplano.
Their comments chime with public pronouncements by Attorney General Arely Gomez, who said on January 8 that an important aspect of his recapture “was discovering Guzman’s intention to have a biographic film made”.
“He contacted actresses and producers, which was part of one line of investigation.”
In the Rolling Stone article, the result of a seven-hour “sit-down”, Sean Penn and El Chapo Guzman discuss various topics, including drug trafficking.
El Chapo Guzman, 58, is quoted as saying: “If there was no consumption, there would be no sales.”
Photo YouTube
The drug lord also rejects responsibility for drug addiction, saying “the day I don’t exist, it’s not going to decrease in any way at all”.
The meeting, apparently arranged by Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, took place in a remote part of Durango state, a Mexican official told Associated Press. Durango borders Sinaloa state, the center of El Chapo Guzman’s operations.
A picture of El Chapo Guzman in Rolling Stone shaking hands with Sean Penn is dated October 2. Two weeks later, the Mexican authorities reported that the cartel leader narrowly evaded recapture in northwest Mexico and suffered face and leg injuries as he fled.
The authorities said they could have fired on El Chapo Guzman at his hideout, but decided against because he was with two women and a child.
Another source, quoted by Reuters, said the Mexicans were considering investigating Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo.
Mexico meanwhile says it will begin the process of extraditing Joaquin Guzman to the United States, in line with extradition requests from 2014.
El Chapo Guzman, who was one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, escaped from jail through a tunnel dug in the showers.
That was his second escape – he was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and escaped from Puente Grande jail in 2001, reportedly in a laundry basket after bribing officials.
The drug lord was on the run for 13 years before being held again in 2014. Previous requests from the US have been turned down.
No detail was given about the time frame for an extradition but experts say the process could take months.
Mexico attorney general’s office said that lawyers for El Chapo Guzman would have three days to file objections and 20 more days to prove them, though that timeframe could be extended, AFP reports.
In a statement welcoming El Chapo Guzman’s recapture, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said he had caused “significant violence, suffering and corruption on multiple continents”.
The US filed requests in 2014 for his extradition so he could face charges of smuggling vast amounts of drugs into the country.
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.
He was recaptured in the north-western city of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa – which he had come to dominate through his drugs cartel.
During the raid, El Chapo Guzman managed to flee through a drain but was later caught by marines in a shootout. Five suspects were killed in the operation and one marine wounded.
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