Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was captured on Friday
following a months-long manhunt after he tunneled out of a Mexican
maximum security prison in July.
Mexico has said it plans to extradite him to the United States,
where he is wanted for exporting hundreds of tonnes of cocaine,
methamphetamine and heroin across the border.
But Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez said that while extraditing
kingpins takes on average a year, it could take up to five years in
Guzman's case.
Rolling Stone magazine published an article by Penn on Saturday
based on his interview with Guzman. Gomez said a line of
investigation had been opened into the meeting between Guzman and
Penn in early October at a jungle hideout, adding that any possible
criminal investigation against the actor-director would depend on
what, if any, deals he struck with Guzman.
U.S. investigators will also examine Penn's interactions with
Guzman, two U.S. government sources said on Monday, but it was
unclear if prosecutors would try to force the actor to turn over
information about the interview.
Mexican Actress Kate del Castillo accompanied Penn to the meeting at
an undisclosed location. Mexico's government had been following a
Guzman lawyer who accompanied them. Mexican daily El Universal
published photographs on Monday of Penn and Castillo that it said
showed the pair being tracked at the time.
"It (the meeting) was an essential element, because we were
following (Guzman's) lawyer, and the lawyer took us to these people
and to this meeting," Gomez told local radio.
Penn, who has been criticized in the United States and in Mexico for
his visit to Guzman, told the Associated Press on Monday: "I've got
nothin' to hide."
Reuters could not reach del Castillo for comment.
In the interview with Penn published by Rolling Stone, Guzman said
he felt neither remorse nor responsibility for smuggling billions of
dollars worth of drugs into the United States. Nor did he consider
himself a violent man despite countless murders blamed on him, he
told Penn.
MIRROR HID ESCAPE TUNNEL
More details emerged on Monday of Guzman's capture, which has been a
boost to President Enrique Pena Nieto after the embarrassment of his
escape last year.
The drug kingpin initially gave Mexican security forces the slip as
they closed in, opening a secret doorway hidden behind a mirror in
his walk-in bedroom closet, and descending into a tunnel about 30
meters long that connected to the drains of Los Mochis, a city in
his native state of Sinaloa.
He spent hours below ground as his henchmen lured pursuing Marines
into a chase onto the roof of the house and into neighboring
properties, where four of them were shot dead. Another was killed
inside the house, officials said.
Finally discovering the hidden tunnel, some Marines tried to follow
Guzman into the drains, but could not find him, a security official
said. As rain started to fill the drains, Guzman eventually emerged
from a manhole by a gas station about a mile (1.6 km) across town
and stole a car at gunpoint.
Video footage broadcast by Televisa showed Marines firing shots
inside the house during the dawn raid.
It took the Marines 90 minutes to find the tunnel entrance, giving
Guzman a crucial head start, the broadcaster said. The lever to open
the reinforced door behind the mirror was concealed in the light of
the walk-in closet.
Below, there was a submarine-like metal hatch connecting the
partially flooded tunnel to the Los Mochis drains.
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Marines found another hole beneath a refrigerator which proved to be
a red herring, the apparent beginnings of a project to build another
escape route. They also found two women cowering in one of the
home's five bathrooms.
"My holidays are over," Guzman said when he was finally caught,
Televisa reported.
Inside the bedclothes of the kingpin's large bed at the Los Mochis
property were DVDs of "La Reina Del Sur," a fictional series about a
female drug boss starring del Castillo.
Bullet holes peppered the stair wall of the house and there was
blood spattered in several rooms. Clothes, food and equipment were
strewn around the building and socks, shirts and underpants still
hung on a washing line on the terrace.
In the bedroom, there were flatscreen TVs and a sofa littered with
injectable testosterone, syringes, antibiotics and condoms. There
was also a packet of "Miracle V Tonic", a dietary supplement which
promises to enhance sexual performance.
The Marines burst through two doors to find 15 of Guzman's henchmen
armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. The military operation
was dubbed "Black Swan".
WANTED IN THE UNITED STATES
The White House on Monday commended Mexico's government for Guzman's
capture, stressing it had been a key bilateral issue.
"The capture of Mr. Guzman has been a high priority for both Mexico
and the United States," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a
news briefing.
The Mexican government said late on Sunday it was formally starting
extradition proceedings against Guzman. Mexico regularly extradites
leading traffickers but the government resisted handing over Guzman
after his arrest in February 2014 as a point of national pride.
On Sunday, Interpol served two extradition warrants, the Mexican
attorney general's office said, kick-starting the latest attempt to
have Guzman face U.S. justice.
The U.S. government wants Guzman, who is believed to be 58 years
old, tried on charges ranging from money laundering to drug
trafficking, kidnapping and murder.
Guzman, who is blamed for thousands of deaths in Mexico and the
United States from addiction and gang warfare, is facing open
federal indictments in seven U.S. jurisdictions.
Chicago, which in 2013 dubbed Guzman its first Public Enemy No. 1
since Al Capone, and Brooklyn, New York, are top contenders to host
what would be one of the highest-profile U.S. criminal trials in
years, former U.S. law enforcement officials said.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel, Alexandra Alper, Veronica Gomez and
Christine Murray in Mexico City, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago, Mica
Rosenberg in New York and Mark Hosenball and Doina Chiacu in
Washington; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Frances Kerry,
Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker)
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