Sean Penn May Face Angry Cartel After El Chapo Interview

In a new interview, as part of a piece which aired on US news show 60 Minutes on Sunday, the Mystic River star confessed he knew his secret meeting with El Chapo, which was arranged by actress Kate del Castillo, was unsafe.

In the wake of his controversial Rolling Stone interview with Mexican drug lord El Chapo, Sean Penn is finally breaking his silence in an interview with Charlie Rose for “60 Minutes”. “Let me be clear, my article has failed”. Penn described himself in an interview as an experiential journalist, and said he thinks he was able to get access to El Chapo because he’s not a traditional journalist.

While El Chapo was ultimately captured days before the article was published, many were quick to criticize the article and Sean’s determination to speak with the criminal.

Penn said after his meeting with Guzman that the drug lord “was interested in seeing the story of his life told on film, but would entrust its telling only to Kate”. I was baffled at his will to see us… “And I make an observation and try to parallel that, try to balance that with the focus that we- that I believe we- we tend to put too much emphasis on”.

“El Chapo” was captured in the Mexican city of Los Mochis on January 8 following a shootout with Mexican marines, US Drug Enforcement Administration agents, and US Marshals. “They’re affecting us. So like a marriage, you know, you might want a divorce”.

Mexican officials wanted to encourage drug cartels to blame Guzman’s capture on the meeting, Penn said, because the government was embarrassed that Penn and his coworkers found the drug kingpin before they could.

In Mexico, where a number of reporters have been murdered by drug cartels, media commentators called Penn’s scoop El Chapo “propaganda” and an “insult to journalists”. The publication of the interview coincided with El Chapo’s recapture by the Mexican government (after a famous escape in July), and many people have questioned Penn’s motives for the interview.

After this, Rose bluntly asks, “But you’re really saying, what I really regret is not anything that did”. Just as many. And how much time have they spent in the last week since this article came out, talking about that? The drug lord also wanted a second meeting with her according to the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.