Video After The Jump
Sean Penn sat down with “CBS This Morning” co-host Charlie Rose for a conversation about his meeting with drug kingpin, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, and what he believes is misinformation spread by the Mexican government regarding the interview he conducted for Rolling Stone.
Charlie Rose: Do you believe the Mexican government released this (information) because they wanted to see you blamed and to put you at risk?
Sean Penn: Yes
Rose: They wanted to encourage the cartel to put you in their crosshairs?
Penn: Yes
Rose: Are you fearful for your life?
Penn: No
The meeting was facilitated by actress Kate del Castillio.
Kate del Castillio
“There is this myth about the visit that we made, my colleagues and I with El Chapo, that it was — as the Attorney General of Mexico is quoted — ‘essential’ to his capture,” Penn said. “We had met with him many weeks earlier…on October 2nd, in a place nowhere near where he was captured. Here’s the things that we know: We know that the Mexican government … they were clearly very humiliated by the notion that someone found him before they did,” he continued. “Well, nobody found him before they did. We didn’t — we’re not smarter than the DEA or the Mexican intelligence. We had a contact upon which we were able to facilitate an invitation.”
Penn feels that the "war on drugs" has failed and that the real intention of his interview with El Chapo has now been lost.
"I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores it's purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy on the war on drugs," the actor explained. "Let's go to the big picture of what we all want. We all want this drug problem to stop. We all want the killings in Chicago to stop. We are the consumer. Whether you agree with Sean Penn or not, there is a complicity there. And if you are on the moral right or on the far left, just as many of your children are doing these drugs. And how much time have they spent in the last week since this article came out talking about that?"
The full interview will air Sunday, January 17, on CBS' "60 Minutes."
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