New York – Actor Sean Penn has spoken out for the first time about his controversial interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. During an interview on Thursday with 60 Minutes the actor said he had “a terrible regret” about the whole thing.
“I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the War on Drugs,” Penn said. “My article failed.”
To write the article for Rolling Stone Magazine, which Mr. Penn said was done to try to contribute to the discussion about the policy in the war on drugs, the actor met with Mr. Guzmán secretly in October, last year. The actor said his intentions were to focus the drug debate on addiction and the violence that surrounds the drug trade.
Penn said his article has failed as the public’s attention has been focused on the fact that he got to meet with Guzman for several hours in a mountain hideout while he was still on the run, instead, opening the debate the actor first intended.
The magazine published the article online on January 9th, just a day after the drug leader was recaptured in his home state, Sinaloa, after a gun battle, 6 months after he escaped from a high-security prison. Some Mexican officials have said the interview played an important role in leading authorities to Guzman whereabouts.
Mexican actress Kate del Castillo also participated in the interview. According to some texts published in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the cartel leader was smitten with the Mexican actress, Kate del Castillo.
The texts said that even though he was not much of a drinker, he was looking forward to meeting her as her presence was going to be something beautiful. Guzman allegedly texted that he wanted to meet the actress and became her very good friend.
As Mr. Guzman supposed Castillo would feel unsafe during the meeting, he also promised he would have everything under control so she would not have to worry about any details and that he would take care of her.
The actress replied the message with casual interest saying she was moved because no one had ever told her they would care for her.
Castillo later explained she was working on a project with actor Sean Penn, referring to the meeting they would later have to write the article.
Source: NY Times