Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2016 19:41:35 GMT -4
(CNN)Three months after drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped from prison, he held a secret meeting with actor Sean Penn in a mountainous Mexican jungle, Rolling Stone reported. The meeting was followed by an interview, conducted via messaging and video.
Mexican forces arrested Guzman on Friday after a shootout that ended his freedom after his brazen prison escape in July.
In Penn's article, published in Rolling Stone on Saturday, Guzman touted his drug trade, saying he "supplies more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world."
Penn met Guzman in person in October. It was a sit-down meeting that started with a warm hug and lasted seven hours.
"He pulls me into a 'compadre' hug, looks me in the eyes and speaks a lengthy greeting in Spanish too fast for my ears," Penn wrote of their first encounter.
During that meeting, the drug lord agreed to an interview at a later time, Rolling Stone reported. A face-to-face interview was not possible, but Penn interviewed Guzman through messaging and video.
Now, Mexican authorities want to question Penn and actress Kate del Castillo about Penn's meeting in Mexico, which was brokered by del Castillo, a senior Mexican law enforcement official told CNN. Specifically, authorities want to learn more about the location where the meeting took place, the source said.
Tequila and pressed jeans
The article describes a man on the run who appeared anything but, as he sipped tequila in a "casual patterned silk shirt and pressed black jeans."
His face beaming and looking "remarkably well-groomed" for a prison escapee, Penn said, Guzman bragged about the intricate nature of his drug empire, the Sinaloa cartel.
"I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats," he told Penn.
The interview added another twist to the surreal life of the two-time prison escapee. And the latest escape in July, Guzman told Penn, was a well-planned operation.
During that escape, Guzman vanished through a hole in his shower and into a tunnel, then to a small plane that flew him to freedom, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez said
The engineers who built the tunnel were flown to Germany for specialized training, Penn said Guzman told him. A motorcycle on rails inside the tunnel was adjusted to run in an environment with limited oxygen, he said.
While Penn does not give the specific location of the interview, he said it was conducted in Mexico.
Guzman was recaptured early Friday when the Mexican navy raided a home in the coastal city of Los Mochis, where he was protected by many local residents who revered him as a modern Robin Hood.
Not blindfolded
In the article, Penn mused about the fact that he was not blindfolded while going to meet the drug lord.
But he also highlighted the extraordinary measures taken to protect Guzman, including flying Penn and his team aboard a plane that had a device that jams radar and ensuring they did not have their phones.
That night, after a few hours of talking, Guzman and his protectors strapped on body armor and brought out the weapons.
Penn said the interview was planned by del Castillo, a Mexican actress who supported Guzman. The drug lord wanted the actress's help in spearheading a movie project about his life.
Del Castillo has not commented since the publication of the article.
