Three months after drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped from prison, he met actor Sean Penn for a secret interview in a dense Mexican jungle, a magazine reported.
Mexican forces arrested Guzman on Friday after a shootout that ended his freedom following his brazen prison escape in July.
In an interview conducted in October for Rolling Stone magazine and published Saturday, Guzman touted his drug trade, saying he “supplies more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world.”
He spent hours talking with Penn and answered follow-up questions weeks later in a video sent while still on the run, the magazine said.
Secret meeting
The article details a secret meeting that lasted seven hours.
It talks about 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.
Well-planned escape
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, and later a small plane that flew him to freedom, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez has said
The engineers who built the tunnel were flown to Germany for specialized training, Penn said. 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 them aboard a plane that had a device that jams radar and ensuring Penn and his team 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 Kate del Castillo, a Mexican actress who supported Guzman. The drug lord wanted the actress’ help in spearheading a movie project about his life.
Castillo has not commented since the publication of the article.
Varying topics
Penn said he and Guzman discussed various topics, including Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, whom Guzman referred to as “Mi amigo.” Trump has been highly critical of illegal migration of Mexicans to the U.S.
Guzman also defended his drug business, saying the poor Mexican economy gives him no choice.
On the topic of his own mortality, he said he hopes he dies of “natural causes” — not in a shootout.
Movie about his life
The tracking of cell phones and electronic exchanges among people close to Guzman was critical in his recapture, according to two U.S. law enforcement officials.
Mexican authorities said they captured Guzman partly because he or his representatives contacted filmmakers about making his biopic.
“Another important aspect that allowed us to pinpoint his location was having discovered Guzman Loera’s intention to film a biographical movie through establishing communication with actors and producers,” Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez said.
It’s unclear whether Penn’s interview helped in his recapture.
Back to the same prison
After six months on the run, Guzman is now back in the same maximum security prison from which he escaped, a Mexican law enforcement official said.
And the Sinaloa cartel leader may be extradited to the United States, where he faces drug trafficking charges, authorities said.
The Mexican attorney general said extradition proceedings are set to begin, but she did not say when. The U.S. government had sought his extradition in June before he escaped, Gomez said.
Guzman’s lawyers have filed documents to fight extradition.
Guzman’s prison escape — his second in 14 years — embarrassed the Mexican government.
Authorities first arrested Guzman in Guatemala in 1993 and extradited him to Mexico. After his conviction, he escaped from a maximum security prison in 2001 using a laundry cart and evaded Mexican authorities for years.
His freedom ended in 2014, when he was arrested in the Mexican resort town of Mazatlan.
In the latest hunt for Guzman, there were reported sightings and near-misses.
In October, the same month Penn interviewed him, authorities said they were hot on his trail but he slipped away.