I found it very intriguing and actually quite well written.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2016 6:56 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] How Sean Penn Got the Most Wanted Drug Kingpin in
the World Captured
I posted Penn's Rolling Stone article yesterday, I think.
Miriam
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > How Sean Penn Got the Most Wanted Drug Kingpin in the World Captured
________________________________________
How Sean Penn Got the Most Wanted Drug Kingpin in the World Captured
By Andrew Emmett [1] / The Free Thought Project [2]
January 10, 2016
Recently captured in a firefight that ended with five of his men dead,
Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as "El Chapo," reportedly fell under
surveillance in October after Mexican law enforcement trailed actor Sean
Penn to the drug lord's compound. Although Penn claims the DEA and Mexican
authorities never contacted him, the controversial actor stated several
times that he felt they had been followed on the way to their secret
interview.
According to a recent Rolling Stone article [3] written by Sean Penn, he
chartered a flight down to Mexico in order to covertly interview Guzmán on
October 2, 2015. Unaccustomed to the added security surrounding the cartel
leader, Penn wrote, "My head is swimming, labeling TracPhones (burners), one
per contact, one per day, destroy, burn, buy, balancing levels of
encryption, mirroring through Blackphones, anonymous e-mail addresses,
unsent messages accessed in draft form. It's a clandestine horror show for
the single most technologically illiterate man left standing."
In his article, Penn questions the relativity of morality by examining the
hypocrisy of condemning cartel violence while opiate addiction [4] continues
to rise in the U.S. Instead of directly addressing the causes of drug
addiction, Penn points out that we have become complicit in the
incarceration "of the tens of thousands of sick and suffering chemically
addicted Americans, barbarically imprisoned for the crime of their illness."
"There is little dispute that the War on Drugs has failed: as many as 27,000
drug-related homicides in Mexico alone in a single year, and opiate
addiction on the rise in the U.S.," Penn continued. "At an American taxpayer
cost of $25 billion per year, this war's policies have significantly served
to kill our children, drain our economies, overwhelm our cops and courts,
pick our pockets, crowd our prisons and punch the clock. Another day's fight
is lost. And lost with it, any possible vision of reform, or recognition of
the proven benefits in so many other countries achieved through the
regulated legalization of recreational drugs."
During his meeting with Penn, Guzmán admitted, "I supply more heroin,
methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I
have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats."
When asked about presidential candidate Donald Trump, who El Chapo allegedly
placed a $100 million bounty on his head, Guzmán smiled, ironically saying,
"Ah! Mi amigo!"
Although Penn suspected they were under surveillance, a Mexican law
enforcement official confirmed on Saturday that Penn's interview with Guzmán
led them directly to El Chapo's compound. According to the official, a
strike team decided to abort the raid that night because two women and a
child were present. But in his article, Penn only mentions one woman with
him and does not observe any children at the compound.
Accompanying Penn on his trip was Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, who
played a drug kingpin in the telenovela "La Reina del Sur." In January 2012,
she wrote on Twitter that in a question of trust between the cartels and the
corrupt Mexican government, she would trust El Chapo.
"Mr. Chapo, wouldn't it be cool that you started trafficking with love?" she
asked Guzmán on Twitter. "With cures for diseases, with food for the
homeless children, with alcohol for the retirement homes that don't let the
elderly spend the rest of the days doing whatever the fuck they want.
Imagine trafficking with corrupt politicians instead of women and children
who end up as slaves. Why don't you burn all those whorehouses where women
are worth less than a pack of cigarettes. Without offer, there's no demand.
Come on, Don! You would be the hero of heroes. Let's traffic with love. You
know how to. Life is a business and the only thing that changes is the
merchandise. Don't you agree?"
During their 7-hour interview, Guzmán asked Penn about his friendship with
former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. While defending the Venezuelan
president in 2010, Penn called for the imprisonment [5] of journalists
accusing Chavez of running a dictatorship. Penn asked if Guzmán had ever met
Pablo Escobar, and El Chapo confirmed that had met the notorious crime lord
once at Escobar's mansion.
When asked if he visits his mother often, Guzmán responded, "All the time. I
hoped we would meet at my ranch and you could meet my mother. She knows me
better than I do. But something came up and we had to change the plan."
Leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzmán first escaped prison in 2001 after
bribing the guards and escaping in a laundry cart. On July 11, 2015, El
Chapo escaped from prison again through a tunnel leading from the shower
area to a construction site nearly a mile away. After receiving specialized
training in Germany, his engineers built the tunnel with a motorcycle on
rails modified to operate in the low-oxygen environment.
Early on Friday, Guzmán was captured in his home state of Culiacan after
five of his men were killed in a gunfight with the Mexican navy. Following
El Chapo's arrest, Mexico Attorney General Arely Gomez stated, "Another
important aspect that allowed us to pinpoint his location was having
discovered Guzmán Loera's intention to film a biographical movie through
establishing communication with actors and producers, which formed a new
line of investigation."
Although Gomez did not confirm whether he was referring to Penn and his
companions, a Mexican law enforcement official, who spoke Saturday on
condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press [6] that the Penn
interview led them directly to El Chapo's compound in October. While denying
any involvement with government agencies, Penn wrote, "There is no question
in my mind but that DEA and the Mexican government are tracking our
movements."
Previously unwilling to extradite Guzmán, the Mexican government is now
willing to hand over El Chapo to the U.S. Although Guzmán's attorney has
argued that his client deserves Mexican justice, the Mexican government and
the rest of the world no longer have any faith in their corrupt judicial
system. If extradited to the U.S., Guzmán will be transferred to Brooklyn,
where he's charged with 12 murders [7] and the laundering of $14 billion in
drug money.
When asked about the death of Pablo Escobar at the hands of law enforcement
and whether he believed the Mexican government would kill him next time
instead of arresting him again, Guzmán accurately predicted, "No, I think
that if they find me, they'll arrest me, of course."
Read more at
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sean-penns-secret-interview-el-chapo-re...
[8]
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [9]
[10]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/media/how-sean-penn-got-most-wanted-drug-kingpin-wor
ld-captured
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/andrew-emmett
[2] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/
[3] http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/el-chapo-speaks-20160109
[4] http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/
[5]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/11/sean-penn-hugo-chavez-venezuela
[6]
http://news.yahoo.com/latest-mexico-willing-extradite-guzman-204023954.html
[7]
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/sean-penn-interviewed-drug-lord-el-
chapo-rolling-stone-article-1.2491355
[8]
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sean-penns-secret-interview-el-chapo-respon
sible-cartel-leaders-arrest/#8YAJACZcU7tutEEF.99
[9] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on How Sean Penn Got the
Most Wanted Drug Kingpin in the World Captured
[10] http://www.alternet.org/
[11] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > How Sean Penn Got the Most Wanted Drug Kingpin in the World Captured
How Sean Penn Got the Most Wanted Drug Kingpin in the World Captured
By Andrew Emmett [1] / The Free Thought Project [2]
January 10, 2016
Recently captured in a firefight that ended with five of his men dead,
Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as "El Chapo," reportedly fell under
surveillance in October after Mexican law enforcement trailed actor Sean
Penn to the drug lord's compound. Although Penn claims the DEA and Mexican
authorities never contacted him, the controversial actor stated several
times that he felt they had been followed on the way to their secret
interview.
According to a recent Rolling Stone article [3] written by Sean Penn, he
chartered a flight down to Mexico in order to covertly interview Guzmán on
October 2, 2015. Unaccustomed to the added security surrounding the cartel
leader, Penn wrote, "My head is swimming, labeling TracPhones (burners), one
per contact, one per day, destroy, burn, buy, balancing levels of
encryption, mirroring through Blackphones, anonymous e-mail addresses,
unsent messages accessed in draft form. It's a clandestine horror show for
the single most technologically illiterate man left standing."
In his article, Penn questions the relativity of morality by examining the
hypocrisy of condemning cartel violence while opiate addiction [4] continues
to rise in the U.S. Instead of directly addressing the causes of drug
addiction, Penn points out that we have become complicit in the
incarceration "of the tens of thousands of sick and suffering chemically
addicted Americans, barbarically imprisoned for the crime of their illness."
"There is little dispute that the War on Drugs has failed: as many as 27,000
drug-related homicides in Mexico alone in a single year, and opiate
addiction on the rise in the U.S.," Penn continued. "At an American taxpayer
cost of $25 billion per year, this war's policies have significantly served
to kill our children, drain our economies, overwhelm our cops and courts,
pick our pockets, crowd our prisons and punch the clock. Another day's fight
is lost. And lost with it, any possible vision of reform, or recognition of
the proven benefits in so many other countries achieved through the
regulated legalization of recreational drugs."
During his meeting with Penn, Guzmán admitted, "I supply more heroin,
methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I
have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats."
When asked about presidential candidate Donald Trump, who El Chapo allegedly
placed a $100 million bounty on his head, Guzmán smiled, ironically saying,
"Ah! Mi amigo!"
Although Penn suspected they were under surveillance, a Mexican law
enforcement official confirmed on Saturday that Penn's interview with Guzmán
led them directly to El Chapo's compound. According to the official, a
strike team decided to abort the raid that night because two women and a
child were present. But in his article, Penn only mentions one woman with
him and does not observe any children at the compound.
Accompanying Penn on his trip was Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, who
played a drug kingpin in the telenovela "La Reina del Sur." In January 2012,
she wrote on Twitter that in a question of trust between the cartels and the
corrupt Mexican government, she would trust El Chapo.
"Mr. Chapo, wouldn't it be cool that you started trafficking with love?" she
asked Guzmán on Twitter. "With cures for diseases, with food for the
homeless children, with alcohol for the retirement homes that don't let the
elderly spend the rest of the days doing whatever the fuck they want.
Imagine trafficking with corrupt politicians instead of women and children
who end up as slaves. Why don't you burn all those whorehouses where women
are worth less than a pack of cigarettes. Without offer, there's no demand.
Come on, Don! You would be the hero of heroes. Let's traffic with love. You
know how to. Life is a business and the only thing that changes is the
merchandise. Don't you agree?"
During their 7-hour interview, Guzmán asked Penn about his friendship with
former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. While defending the Venezuelan
president in 2010, Penn called for the imprisonment [5] of journalists
accusing Chavez of running a dictatorship. Penn asked if Guzmán had ever met
Pablo Escobar, and El Chapo confirmed that had met the notorious crime lord
once at Escobar's mansion.
When asked if he visits his mother often, Guzmán responded, "All the time. I
hoped we would meet at my ranch and you could meet my mother. She knows me
better than I do. But something came up and we had to change the plan."
Leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzmán first escaped prison in 2001 after
bribing the guards and escaping in a laundry cart. On July 11, 2015, El
Chapo escaped from prison again through a tunnel leading from the shower
area to a construction site nearly a mile away. After receiving specialized
training in Germany, his engineers built the tunnel with a motorcycle on
rails modified to operate in the low-oxygen environment.
Early on Friday, Guzmán was captured in his home state of Culiacan after
five of his men were killed in a gunfight with the Mexican navy. Following
El Chapo's arrest, Mexico Attorney General Arely Gomez stated, "Another
important aspect that allowed us to pinpoint his location was having
discovered Guzmán Loera's intention to film a biographical movie through
establishing communication with actors and producers, which formed a new
line of investigation."
Although Gomez did not confirm whether he was referring to Penn and his
companions, a Mexican law enforcement official, who spoke Saturday on
condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press [6] that the Penn
interview led them directly to El Chapo's compound in October. While denying
any involvement with government agencies, Penn wrote, "There is no question
in my mind but that DEA and the Mexican government are tracking our
movements."
Previously unwilling to extradite Guzmán, the Mexican government is now
willing to hand over El Chapo to the U.S. Although Guzmán's attorney has
argued that his client deserves Mexican justice, the Mexican government and
the rest of the world no longer have any faith in their corrupt judicial
system. If extradited to the U.S., Guzmán will be transferred to Brooklyn,
where he's charged with 12 murders [7] and the laundering of $14 billion in
drug money.
When asked about the death of Pablo Escobar at the hands of law enforcement
and whether he believed the Mexican government would kill him next time
instead of arresting him again, Guzmán accurately predicted, "No, I think
that if they find me, they'll arrest me, of course."
Read more at
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sean-penns-secret-interview-el-chapo-re...
[8]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [9]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[10]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/media/how-sean-penn-got-most-wanted-drug-kingpin-wor
ld-captured
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/andrew-emmett
[2] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/
[3] http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/el-chapo-speaks-20160109
[4] http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/
[5]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/11/sean-penn-hugo-chavez-venezuela
[6]
http://news.yahoo.com/latest-mexico-willing-extradite-guzman-204023954.html
[7]
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/sean-penn-interviewed-drug-lord-el-
chapo-rolling-stone-article-1.2491355
[8]
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sean-penns-secret-interview-el-chapo-respon
sible-cartel-leaders-arrest/#8YAJACZcU7tutEEF.99
[9] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on How Sean Penn Got the
Most Wanted Drug Kingpin in the World Captured
[10] http://www.alternet.org/
[11] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
