Sean Penn: Nothing to hide over drug lord interview

Guzman’s powerful Sinaloa cartel smuggles multi-ton shipments of cocaine and marijuana as well as manufacturing and transporting methamphetamines and heroin, mostly to the U.S. He is wanted in various U.S. states and his July escape deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto and strained ties between the countries.

On Saturday, a Mexican federal law enforcement official said the quickest Guzman could be extradited would be six months, but even that is not likely because lawyers will file appeals.

Several jurisdictions are vying for what would be one of the most high-profile United States criminal trials in years. “That’s why it can take a long time. In this case our country’s national sovereignty must be respected, the sovereignty of its judicial institutions”.

On Saturday night, as the rest of the world was learning about Sean Penn’s interview with the Mexican drug lord Joaqun Guzmn Loera, known as El Chapo, in Rolling Stone magazine, Penn himself was in Beverly Hills, in the company of fellow celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber and Patricia Arquette. Many called for his arrest in what they called aiding and abetting a drug king lord and prison escapee.

In a pre-dawn attack by Mexican marines who killed five of his henchmen, the portly capo survived by squeezing through a secret tunnel into the city’s grimy storm drains, only to pop out of a manhole near a Pollo Feliz restaurant hours later.

Regarding Penn, the daily added, “the PGR can request the cooperation of USA authorities” in arranging to interview him as a witness at a Mexican embassy.

Guzman was captured last Friday, more than three months after Penn’s October 2 meeting with him in central Mexico and six months after escaping from prison.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman apparently wanted an entertainment-industry ally to help immortalize him on film, and turned to Del Castillo. The Mexican authorities said Friday night that Guzman 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.

“I love Kate and she is the best and she is my friend”, said Del la Reguera.

In Brooklyn, El Paso and San Diego, Guzman is charged with participating in a continuing criminal enterprise under a federal law specifically targeting drug traffickers.

A top White House official said Sunday he was “appalled” by boastful comments Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loer made in a Rolling Stone interview about being the world’s biggest supplier of drugs.

Mexican authorities want to speak with Penn and Kate del Castillo–the Mexican actress who set up the meeting–about the entire thing.

Senior Mexican government sources said they were indeed aware of the October meeting and monitored his movements.

Penn said the interview came about after the notorious drug lord became interested in making a movie about his life and was inundated with requests.