Famous Mexican actress is being harassed by the Mexican government due to her “secret” meeting with the world's most notorious drug traffickers Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman during a visit to Sinaloa accompanied by two-time Oscar winning actor Sean Penn, and in the latest development on Thursday, authorities in Mexico said she would be arrested if and when she ever returns to the country.
On Thursday, the Mexican attorney general's office issued a warrant that Del Castillo be immediately located and taken in for questioning over her alleged links with El Chapo.
EXPERT: Peña Nieto Was Never Interested in Arresting El Chapo
The now famous meeting took place in October, while Guzman was on the run for a second time after escaping from a maximum security jail just north of Mexico City on July 11 through a 1-mile tunnel.
The spectacular jailbreak is said to have cost El Chapo about US$50 million, while the escape exposed the high level of corruption in Mexico, which according to the DEA reaches President Enrique Peña Nieto, who the agency assures received millions from the Sinaloa Cartel leader on various occasions, including huge donations for his presidential campaign.
When El Chapo escaped the first time back in 2001, an unofficial version states the drug kingpin paid off then President Vicente Fox to allow him to leave prison through the main entrance. However, the official version is he escaped in a laundry cart.
Mexican prosecutors have said they believe Del Castillo received money from Guzman to launch her tequila business and in fact, a building registered as the address to her company Tequila Honor LLC was visited by U.S. federal authorities and found to be abandoned.
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Del Castillo holds dual Mexican and U.S. citizenship and currently lives in Los Angeles. She failed to turn up at the Mexican Consulate in L.A., to which she was also called for questioning.
For now, Del Castillo is safe from arrest as the warrant issued in Mexico is only valid in that country, however if she ever decides to enter the country again, she will be immediately detained.
The actress' lawyer in the United States, Harland Braun, told AP his client is prepared to talk to the authorities "if we receive proper information and credentials. She's not hiding anything. There's no problem locating her. Everyone knows she has lawyers, publicists, agents.”
Sean Penn Faces Harassment Too
U.S. authorities have played their part in harassing Penn as well and in the latest developments, a former federal agent who says he closely monitored Penn's trip, according to Fox News, the actor played the role of journalist to protect himself from prosecution, when in fact his objective was to get to know El Chapo for a future movie on the drug trafficker.
“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 Fox News source added.
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“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,” the source said.
Penn has also had to fend off attacks by Sen. Ted Cruz, who is also a Republican presidential nominee.
“El Chapo. You know, Sean Penn seems to think he is a sexy and attractive character. I so appreciate Hollywood for glorifying vicious homicidal killers. What a cute and chic thing to celebrate,” Cruz said, according to Dallas News.
The actor immediately responding blasting the politician by saying that, “Ted Cruz is a generically funny and dangerously adept thought-smith. Clearly, he watches too much television and neglected to read my article before criticizing,” Penn told Mother Jones. “It’s understood. He’s busy trading genius and raising aspirations with Mr. Trump. Blame Canada.”