Drug lord was interested in Mexican actress, not Sean Penn

Authorities raided his hideout in Durango state a few days after the meeting but Guzman grabbed his cook’s daughter and used her “as a human shield”, holding her in front of him as a helicopter hovered overhead, prompting soldiers to hold fire, a Mexican official said.

Penn, in an article published by Rolling Stone magazine on Saturday, said del Castillo had been in contact with Guzman while he was in prison through letters after the kingpin’s attorney approached her.

The government officials said investigators had monitored Penn and Del Castillo, taking photographs of the actors when they landed in Mexico, before their get-together with Guzman.

Asked about scrutiny of his controversial meeting with the fugitive drug lord at a hideout in rural Mexico, Penn on Monday would only say: “I’ve got nothin’ to hide”.

“No, you’re reading hits”, he said in the email exchange with the AP. Both Penn and the government said Guzman hoped to arrange his own movie.

During the operation, code named Tlatelolco as it was supposed to occur on the October 2 anniversary of a famous 1968 Mexico City massacre, one of the marines had Guzman in his sites, but chose not to pull the trigger as Chapo had a young girl in his arms, Loret de Mola said.

Mexican authorities said a “new line” of inquiry had been opened that could include Penn and del Castillo, and could involve “covering up” for Guzman “or something bigger”. The only interview the drug lord is believed to have given in decades was brokered with the help of the Mexican television star Kate del Castillo. Then there’s the bad toll in lives and misery that the drugs his empire ships north takes on American society.

The drug lord whose Sinaloa cartel is responsible for a quarter of the drugs in the USA was re-captured on Friday after he had escaped one of Mexico’s highest security prisons. ICYMI: Penn implied that Kate had a hand in leading him to Guzman – who has since been recaptured.

“The detention of the world’s most wanted criminal is a credit to the coordination of our institutions in favor of security and the rule of law”, Pena Nieto said.

“We investigate actions, we don’t investigate people”, he said.

A disclaimer on the article says it was submitted to Guzman for approval before publication, a practice that several renowned journalists and professional organizations have criticized.

Following the meeting, troops entered Guzman’s remote mountain stronghold in northwestern Mexico in order to flush him out “toward a city”, a government official said on condition of anonymity. The applications – for clothing and apparel, not movies – were denied on the grounds that Guzman was a wanted man.

Guzman’s attorney Juan Pablo Badillo has said the defense has already filed six motions to challenge extradition requests.

He added that the Mexican government will present a “diplomatic note” to USA authorities so that no other US jurisdiction will be able to seek the death penalty, which is outlawed in Mexico, against the extradited drug lord. The drink makes a prominent appearance in the Rolling Stone piece, when Penn describes having takena swig out of an Honor bottle with del Castillo to calm their nerves during a bumpy flight towards their clandestine rendezvous with El Chapo.

“I’m not a drinker but your presence is going to be something attractive”.