Mexico: Drug lord located thanks to interview with Sean Penn

(Kiko Guerrero via AP/EL DEBATE).

The actor also said he entered into the interview project fully aware of the dangers involved. The world’s most-wanted drug lord… The men discuss topics ranging from drug trafficking to the Middle East.

Guzman stressed he was not a violent person, and rejected claims that he was responsible for the high levels of drug addiction in the world – adding: “The day I don’t exist, it’s not going to decrease in any way at all”.

“Rolling Stone’s big comeback: Get a celebrity to interview a notorious drug trafficker – and give the latter edit approval”, tweeted BuzzFeed Canada editor Craig Silverman, formerly of the media ethics blog Regret the Error.

Penn said Guzman asked whether many people in the United States had heard of him, and that he proudly declared “I supply more Drugs than anybody else in the world”. But apparently they were not enough.

In the video interview, Guzman is asked about the notion Mexican authorities want to kill him instead of taking him alive.

“However, the criminal was accompanied by two women and a girl, so (marines in a helicopter) chose to not fire their firearms to not risk the lives of third parties”, Gomez said.

The ensuing shootout resulted in the death of five gang suspects and the arrest of Guzman himself.

Penn said he believed prior to the meeting his movements were likely being tracked by Mexican and U.S. authorities, and a Mexican federal official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the meeting had helped lead to Guzman’s recapture.

The wanted men came out of a manhole and stole a auto, but they were captured on a road and taken to a motel, where Guzman was pictured seated on a bed wearing a dirty sleeveless shirt – an ignominious end for a kingpin whose billion dollar drug business reaches as far as Asia and Europe.

The Rolling Stone story provides details of his escape from Mexican prison in July 2015. “They won’t challenge everything at once … they can drip, drip, milk it that way”. He said several months ago that the extradition requests from the US were the reason Guzman escaped.

Others said former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam scuttled any potential deal.

The 58-year-old’s arrest is a major sigh of relief for President Enrique Pena Nieto, whose administration was humiliated when Guzman broke out of a maximum-security prison on July 11.

Guzman was recaptured Friday, six months after breaking out of the country’s top maximum security prison. Lore says he hid in a laundry cart, though many dispute that version.

The manhunt culminated in a house in Los Mochis, which authorities began to stake out in December, Gomez said. The team noticed a lot of activity at the house Wednesday and the arrival of a vehicle early Thursday morning. Penn said some of Guzman’s henchmen were certified as lawyers to allow them access to the boss while he was in prison.

The marines were met with gunfire as they closed in. Mexican marines pursued the wily kingpin through storm drains before intercepting his getaway in a hijacked vehicle.

What happens now is crucial for Guzman, whose cartel smuggles multi-ton shipments of cocaine and marijuana as well as manufacturing and transporting methamphetamines and heroin, mostly to the U.S. 3, after he escaped.

“It’s very common for Mexican lawyers to file injunctions to block the extradition process”, Deputy U.S. Marshal Scott Williams said. Now that he is recaptured, Mexico has to start processing the extradition requests anew, according to the law. He says the appeals are usually turned down, but that each one means a judge has to schedule a hearing.

“They have to extradite him”, said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst in Mexico.

One of Guzman’s attorneys, Juan Pablo Badillo, vowed to take the case up to the Supreme Court if necessary.