It’s hard to argue with any process that led to the capture — recapture, that is — of a billionaire drug lord who has the blood of thousands on his hands. The fact that Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is back behind bars, possibly because an actor-playing-journalist led police to his hideout, is an essential first step toward reversing Mexico’s tattered reputation for lawlessness and rampant criminality.
Guzman, a two-time prison escapee, openly mocks the concept of Mexican justice. It’s time for Mexico to swallow its pride and accede to U.S. extradition requests instead of allowing him to continue bribing his way to freedom.
Actor Sean Penn did the quest for justice no favors by employing elaborate evasion techniques to elude authorities and conduct a seven-hour interview with Guzman.
And Rolling Stone magazine, which published the interview Saturday, deserves public scorn and outrage for contributing to Guzman’s aggrandizement.
Rolling Stone made a deal with the devil.
Editors granted Guzman the right to review and approve the 10,000-word article before it went to press. Reputable journalists simply do not cross this inviolable line, regardless of the justification.
The public’s trust is paramount, and readers everywhere must know they’re receiving an accurate and truthful account of news events.
Of course, Guzman — along with President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leader of the Islamic State — would love to have the right to review their quotes and characterizations before articles are published. But the game simply does not and must not work that way.
If Penn wants to play journalist, that’s his business. He might consider a few college journalism courses first, particularly one devoted to journalism ethics.
Penn writes that Mexico has “two presidents” — the elected one, Enrique Pena Nieto, and Guzman, the criminal who rules the Mexican countryside by terror. Penn likens him to Robin Hood.
The actor offers a few short sentences acknowledging the 27,000 deaths from the war between Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel and rival groups to control Mexico’s northern smuggling routes into the United States.
The writer also chides Americans for providing the drug demand and dollars that feed cartel violence. But he is shockingly uncritical of Guzman, describing him as a “simple man from a simple place” and a doting father who avoids alcohol and never uses the poison he pushes.
Since neither Penn nor Rolling Stone wanted to upset their interview subject with overly harsh words, perhaps we should do it for them: Joaquin Guzman is a mass murderer who would not hesitate to behead law enforcement officers, torture journalists and use vats of acid to “disappear” anyone who interferes with his insatiable quest for enrichment.
This “simple man” would gladly destroy children’s lives and invoke Mafia-style rule if given the opportunity.
Penn’s sympathetic appraisal recalls his support in previous years of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Real journalists don’t downplay ugly and inconvenient facts. He and Rolling Stone were played, and paid too high a price to secure a sensational, exclusive interview.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch
