(From AFP)

Sean Penn’s interview with drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman caused a cross-border uproar on Sunday, with Mexican authorities seeking to question him while US critics lashed out at the American actor.

Actor Sean Penn (L) met Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in October, a few months after the drug lord's escape from prison
Actor Sean Penn (L) met Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in October, a few months after the drug lord’s escape from prison

A Mexican federal official said the attorney general’s office wanted to talk with Penn and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo about their secretive meeting with Guzman in October, three months before his capture.

“That is correct, of course, it’s to determine responsibilities,” the official said on condition of anonymity, declining to provide more details, including a possible date for an interview with the stars.

A second federal official said it was unclear whether Penn and del Castillo, who brokered the meeting, had violated any Mexican law.

 While a reporter could interview a drug cartel suspect, “they’re not journalists,” the official said.

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told CNN that Penn’s meeting with Guzman “poses a lot of interesting questions for him and others involved in this so-called interview. We’ll see what happens.”

The US rock magazine Rolling Stone on Saturday published the interview that Guzman gave to the actors in an undisclosed jungle clearing in Mexico. Read More

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