When it comes to Sean Penn’s now infamous odyssey into Mexico to meet Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, many people seem to think that the actor isn’t being completely honest with his reasons for meeting with the drug lord. That includes the federal government, certain members of the media, and actress Kate del Castillo.
It would seem that Penn may have had ulterior motives when heading to Mexico, not including an article for Rolling Stone. According to Fox News, Penn may be using his status as a journalist in the situation to protect him from any possible pending charges for meeting with “El Chapo.” One of the agents involved with tracking down the drug lord seems to believe that Penn was meeting with the drug lord initially to possibly play him in a film — much like earlier reports alluded to:
“Meeting with El Chapo about making a movie about him would have been violating U.S. law, which prohibits dealings with a ‘significant foreign narcotics trafficker,’” the government source told FoxNews.com. “Penn said his story was a ‘failure’ because the real objective was to ignite the debate on how the war on drugs is a failure, but it is not a failure if he lands in the role of a lifetime.”
Penn has denied these claims, particularly in his 60 Minutes interview where he claimed that the Mexican government was spreading the rumor to put a cartel target on his back. But his apparent partner in crime, Kate del Castillo, is telling a similar tale through her lawyers. She allegedly had no prior warning that Penn was writing an article for Rolling Stone until the pair had already met with “El Chapo.” The actress is currently a person of interest to the Mexican government according to a report at Vulture:
“She didn’t know Penn was going to write for Rolling Stone.” Braun said. “After the interview she had no choice about it. Once Penn and Guzmán agreed on the article, what was she going to do? She signed off after they had done so.”
“That’s what made her feel really betrayed by these people,” Braun said, referring to Penn and the two people with him. “The three of them go together and basically used her and didn’t tell her.”
And to add even more intrigue to this Sean Penn situation, apparently the U.S. Government played a part in holding off the Mexican government from going in to capture “El Chapo” until Penn was out of the area. As Vulture puts it, that would mean the U.S. Government let a wanted fugitive run free in order for a movie star to leave the area.
There’s really nothing one can think about this entire situation at this point. You can only read the details and process them, let it sink in, and then hope that the truth isn’t as silly as the interview that came to be as a result of it all.
