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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

On Saturday, Rolling Stone published an interview [rollingstone.com] with Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, a day after he was recaptured by Mexican authorities following his escape from Altiplano prison in July and a months long manhunt. The interview was conducted by actor and filmmaker Sean Penn [wikipedia.org] in October, two weeks before El Chapo narrowly avoided authorities and sustained injuries in Sinaloa state. In Sean Penn's own words:

As an American citizen, I'm drawn to explore what may be inconsistent with the portrayals our government and media brand upon their declared enemies. Not since Osama bin Laden has the pursuit of a fugitive so occupied the public imagination. But unlike bin Laden, who had posed the ludicrous premise that a country's entire population is defined by – and therefore complicit in – its leadership's policies, with the world's most wanted drug lord, are we, the American public, not indeed complicit in what we demonize? We are the consumers, and as such, we are complicit in every murder, and in every corruption of an institution's ability to protect the quality of life for citizens of Mexico and the United States that comes as a result of our insatiable appetite for illicit narcotics.

Now, USA Today reports that El Chapo's desire for film fame may have led to his downfall [usatoday.com]:

The hard work of Mexican law enforcement, the lure of Hollywood glitz and the fame of iconic actor Sean Penn helped drive the triumphant end to a six-month manhunt for the notorious Mexican drug lord dubbed "El Chapo," Mexican officials said.

[...] The first break in the manhunt came when Guzmán sought out producers and actors for a biographical film about his life, Mexico Attorney General Arely Gomez said. It actually was Guzmán's contacts with Penn that led authorities to a Guzmán hiding place in October, Reuters and other media outlets reported. Guzmán fled, but ultimately was nabbed Friday in Los Mochis, a Mexican coastal city of 250,000 in Guzmán's home state of Sinaloa.

Journalists [washingtonpost.com], the White House, and others [bbc.com] have savaged Penn for the interview and his sympathetic portrayal of El Chapo:

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told CNN: "One thing I will tell you is that this braggadocious action about how much heroin he sends around the world, including the United States, is maddening. We see a heroin epidemic, an opioid addiction epidemic, in this country... But El Chapo's behind bars - that's where he should stay."

The Mexican authorities would not say whether they would investigate Penn and a Mexican actress, Kate del Castillo, who apparently arranged the interview. Mr McDonough declined to answer a question about whether the US would hand Penn over to Mexico for questioning.

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