A Decade After Meeting El Chapo, Kate Del Castillo Remembers Her Infamous Meeting With El Chapo: "It Feels Like It Was Yesterday"

Mexican actress Kate del Castillo has once again addressed her 2015 encounter with the infamous cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, stating that she does not regret the meeting and emphasizing that it was a decision she made voluntarily.

Last month marked 10 years since the highly publicized rendezvous between del Castillo and Guzmán in the Sierra Sinaloense. During a recent media appearance, the 53-year-old actress reflected on the consequences of that encounter: "I feel like it was yesterday, and I still have consequences and I will have them for the rest of my life," she said.

A reporter remarked that it had been a decade since her meeting with "Mr. Joaquín Guzmán" and asked how her thoughts on it had evolved in the last ten years. Del Castillo responded that she "It was a decision that I made ... and I don't regret it, I don't regret it at all."

Though she added that in the aftermath, she and her circle paid a price, saying, "What followed, betrayals and everything you already know, was no longer in my hands and that was terrible and there were consequences that my family, my friends and I paid for."

Later on, del Castillo noted she is currently in Mexico promoting a short film in which she participates, and described herself as "stronger than ever" and "more protected than ever."

Her path toward El Chapo began publicly in January 2012. She posted a tweet stating: "Today I believe more in El Chapo Guzmán than in the governments that hide painful truths".

Shortly thereafter, Guzmán, already a fan and attracted to her, reached out to Del Castillo. They proposed she create a film or series based on his life story. In June 2015, she met with Guzmán's lawyers in Mexico City, insisting that she would not take any money from him for the project. The meeting between them at a hideout took place on or around October 2-3, 2015.

Del Castillo brought American actor Sean Penn into the scenario to bring a major Hollywood name to the project, boosting its credibility. According to several sources, Penn met with Del Castillo (and two producers), and, through her contacts, a secret meeting with El Chapo was arranged.

In January 2016, Penn published an article in Rolling Stone titled "El Chapo Speaks," which recounted his clandestine meeting with Guzmán while he was a fugitive. Del Castillo maintains that she did not know Penn's motive was journalism/interview rather than the film project she believed she was facilitating. "I was taken aback," she said.

She later accused Penn of using her to gain access and not protecting her, saying, "he used me as bait, and then he never protected me. And risked my life and my parents' life and my sister's life and everybody surrounding me."

Once the article appeared and El Chapo was arrested again in January of 2016, Mexican authorities flagged Del Castillo and Penn for investigation. The government claimed their contact helped pinpoint Guzmán's hideout. For Del Castillo, the consequences were substantial. In a 2019 interview, she said, "For me it's very important because I need to tell my truth." She described the period as almost career-ending.

In the investigation, Mexican authorities looked into whether Del Castillo accepted funds or collaborated with the cartel. Ultimately, in February 2017, the investigation against her was closed with no charges. The official report concluded that while she sought a film project, there was no evidence she was part of Guzmán's criminal organization.