In his first interview since his controversial October 2 meeting with Mexican kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán at a remote Mexican place, the two-time Oscar winner and activist Sean Penn adamantly denied he had anything to do with El Chapo's recapture and warned that by blaming him, the Mexican government puts him in danger.
“There is this myth about the visit that we made, my colleagues and I, with El Chapo, that it was--as the Attorney General of Mexico is quoted--‘essential’ to his capture,” Penn told Charlie Rose, during an interview broadcasted Sunday night in
"So as far as you know, you had nothing to do and your visit had nothing to do with his recapture?" Rose asked.
"Here's the things that we know: We know that the Mexican government...they were clearly very humiliated by the notion that someone found him before they did," Penn said. "Well, nobody found him before they did. We didn't… we're not smarter than the DEA or the Mexican intelligence. We had a contact upon which we were able to facilitate an invitation."
Six month after escaping from a high security prison in Mexico, Guzmán was recaptured on January 8 in the town of Los Mochis in the Mexican coastal state of Sinaloa. The earlier breakout of such a high profile criminal deeply embarrassed Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who used the full force of his government to try to locate him.
Mexican Attorney General Arely Gómez said last week that the secret encounter–which led to the January 9, 10,000 word rambling article by Penn in Rolling Stone--assisted authorities tracking down and recapturing Guzmán in a massive multi-agency manhunt that drew more than 2,500 Mexicans and had the assistance of U.S. law enforcement agencies.
A series of surveillance photos published by the Mexican press last week show how authorities were closely watching the actor and Mexican-born actress Kate del Castillo when they traveled to Mexico to secretly meet El Chapo, leader of one of the most powerful modern-time international drug syndicates, the Sinaloa Cartel.
Penn argued that the meeting with Guzmán happened three months prior to his capture and took place in a location far away from where he was found.
The meeting is believed to have taken place in Durango, a state neighboring Sinaloa, where El Chapo was detained.
But others are not so sure the encounter was unrelated to the capture. David Gaddis, former chief of enforcement operations at the DEA, told me: "Following Mr. Penn to Guzmán was like following Nemo to Moby Dick. A piece of cake! They are so famous as actors, there's no way they would have not brought attention to the meeting! Guzmán had to know it, as well."
In the CBS interview Penn insists that the Mexican government released the information (surveillance photos) about him in part because they wanted to see him blamed and to encourage the Sinaloa Cartel to put him in their crosshairs.
Gaddis believes Penn has a point. "It's my opinion that both (Penn and del Castillo) are in jeopardy. Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel stretches operational tentacles throughout Mexico and the U.S. Hollywood is not exempt from the real-life scourge and threat of drug trafficking and organized crime. Whether or not he acts upon those feelings, Chapo is going to hold them responsible for his ultimate demise."
"Are you fearful for your life?" Rose asked.
"No," Penn replied.
When Rose asked what was the point of interviewing a drug lord with a notorious criminal reputation, Penn replied: "… I do what I call experiential journalism. I don't have to be the one that reports on the alleged murders or the amount of narcotics that are brought in. I go and I spend time in the company of another human being, which everyone is. And I make an observation and try to parallel that, try to balance that with the focus that I believe we tend to put too much emphasis on. So, when I understood from colleagues of mine that there was a potential for contact with him, it just struck me that I wanted to…"
Penn asked the public not to demonize the world's most notorious drug lord and try to see him as another human being.
"… To over-demonize any human being is not in our best self interest. Like it or not, we're married to 'em. They're of our time. They're affecting us…," Penn said.
Penn explained he decided to pursue the interview in Rolling Stone because he wanted to "try to contribute" to the discussion on the War on Drugs, but that his article failed to do so.
Rose: You're saying there's not much dialogue about…
Penn: My article failed.
Rose: …as a result of El Chapo.
Penn: Let me be clear. My article has failed…
Rose: To?
Penn: … in that everything that's spoken about is everything but what I was trying to speak about.
Rose: But… you're really saying… what I really regret is not anything that (I) did. I regret that people misunderstood what I did.
Penn: That's what I'm saying, yeah.
Twitter: @DoliaEstevez
