How that Sean Penn, El Chapo interview happened

A few weeks before she would attract world-wide attention for reportedly arranging Sean Penn’s recent interview with drug cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo told the host of a lifestyle TV show in Mexico that she wanted to be involved in a more stable business than acting.

While Guzman could face United States justice, Mexican authorities said they wanted to question Penn over his October meeting with the then-fugitive.

When asked if he was concerned about images claiming to show Mexican officials watching him before his visit with El Chapo, Penn said in an email (excerpted by the BBC), “I’ve got nothin’ to hide”.

However, it does raise another question about Penn’s journalism: Did he take proper security measures to protect his source?

Mexican newspaper El Universal published photographs on Monday which suggest Penn and del Castillo were under surveillance by the authorities at the time. He escaped from prison in July and had been at large ever since.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was on the run for almost six months before he was captured by Mexican marines on January 8. “This will be the first interview El Chapo had ever granted outside an interrogation room, leaving me no precedent by which to measure the hazards”, Sean wrote in the captivating article.

In the article Penn published to Rolling Stone magazine, he defended his actions and insisted that the allegations brought against him regarding the meeting with El Chapo were not as perceived.

After Guzman was recaptured on Friday, authorities launched the extradition process on Sunday, based on two United States petitions on a clutch of charges, including drug trafficking and homicide.

Observers say the Mexican government may see extradition as the best way to ensure he does not escape again.

Just days later, Guzman escaped from the maximum-security facility after stepping into a shower and slipping into a tunnel, embarrassing the Mexican government and imperiling its counter-narcotics cooperation with the U.S. Del Castillo has not commented.

At one point, El Chapo boasts: “I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world”.

According to the Associated Press, “Guzman’s attorney Juan Pablo Badillo has said the defense has already filed six motions to challenge extradition requests”.

Penn travelled to a remote location in Mexico in October to meet with Guzmán, after making contact through Mexican actress Kate del Castillo.

Mexican authorities have also revealed they want to speak to actor Sean Penn after it emerged he met the narcotics baron at a secret location in the Mexican jungle.