Latin America and Caribbean

How That Sean Penn, El Chapo Interview Happened

Sean Penn interviewed notorious Mexican cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman for Rolling Stone. Here's how it happened.

How That Sean Penn, El Chapo Interview Happened
Getty Images / Alberto E. Rodriguez
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So, how exactly did Sean Penn, the actor, get access to El Chapo, the notorious drug trafficker? It could be due to El Chapo's love of movies. (Video via Univision)

The day after the kingpin's arrest, Rolling Stone published an interview with him conducted by Sean Penn and set up by Mexican soap opera star Kate Del Castillo in October.

El Chapo reportedly wanted to make a biopic of his life, and only trusted Del Castillo, who starred as a cartel boss on TV, to make it. (Video via Univision)

He got in touch with Del Castillo and she, through some mutual acquaintances, involved Penn. After a bit of communication, he granted them an interview.

But that might have been a costly mistake. Mexican authorities said they were able to track the leader of the Sinaloa cartel thanks to his contact with the actors. 

In the article, Penn wrote “There is no question in my mind but that the DEA and the Mexican government are tracking our movements.”

After their initial conversation in October, they were supposed to meet again eight days later. But following a close call with Mexican authorities El Chapo had to skip the meeting.

Going forward, the Mexican government will try to extradite El Chapo to the U.S. That's a plan the Mexican government had initially resisted, but after his escape from prison in July, they began to rethink their strategy.

Beyond that, Mexican authorities said everyone who was involved with the drug kingpin’s interview, including Penn and Del Castillo was under investigation.

This video contains images from Getty Images.