Is Sean Penn a CIA operative?

By Lucio R. Borderland Beat written with material from Reforma and Daily Mail

'Is Sean Penn a CIA spy?' 

That’s the buzz being generated.  There are always those who look for oddities that lend towards theories of conspiracy, we have more than our fair share here at BB. One of my favorite conspiracy comments from the Sean Penn/Chapo story, is the reader saying he thought maybe Penn insisted on shaking Chapo’s hand when he did, because the actor may have had a location “tracking” film he transferred to Chapo.  An invisible GPS film. 

But, in the case of Penn, and his history, it is not out of the bounds of reason to speculate. 

For me, the eyebrow arching fact in this drama, is the timing of the interview release.

From Daily Mail:

Conspiracy theorists claim actor's interview with El Chapo was an elaborate government plot to capture fugitive drug lord

As news emerged of the peculiar series of events that led to El Chapo's capture, Twitter was ablaze with one question: Is Sean Penn a CIA spy?

The actor met with the world's most wanted drug lord in the jungle to ask him a handful of Hollywood-worthy questions such as 'do you dream?' and 'how would you define yourself?'

And then just hours after the Sinaloa cartel leader was detained by Mexican marines, the Rolling Stone published a lyrical 10,000-word account of their meeting.

Chavez with Penn 

That is the part I think about and can’t reconcile as to why anyone would sit on the only interview ever conducted with a enigmatic man known globally, and releasing the interview within 2 days after El Chapo’s recapture.

Daily Mail also points out, the CIA using those of the entertainment business before on clandestine projects.  

Rumors of various actors working for the CIA has spanned generations.  People such as Marilyn Monroe.

And then there is 'Argo'.

From The Daily Mail:

Supposedly the entire 'clandestine horror show' - as Penn put it - was part of a research project to develop a Netflix-style drama about Guzmán and his prison break. 

Though Penn insists he went to extreme lengths to hide the meeting from authorities, the details have sparked widespread speculation that he was in fact tapped by the CIA to locate the fugitive criminal - just as screenwriters were enlisted to make Argo to free US hostages in Iran in 1979.  It would hardly be the first time the CIA had tapped a Hollywood-ite for their connections to take a different approach an international political case. 

Argo was a movie fabricated for CIA operatives to have an excuse to fly to Iran during the hostage crisis in 1979. 

Tony Mendez led the team to recover six American diplomats from Tehran, pretending that they were all members of a production team.

The Central Intelligence Agency is openly cooperative with Hollywood 

Researchers who specialize in the CIA's connection with Hollywood, Dr Matthew Alford and Tom Secker, told DailyMail.com on Sunday: 'Spies have long used Hollywood as a front, from Pretty Woman producer Arnon Milchan, who admitted to stealing US nuclear secrets for Mossad, to Frederick Forsyth who did 'favours' for MI6. So the theory that Sean Penn was part of a CIA sting operation is an intriguing possibility.' 

El Chapo admitted in the peculiar interview to being the biggest drug trafficker in the world and said

Raul Castro and Penn

he sent engineers to Germany to learn how to build the tunnel he would eventually use to escape a maximum security prison.  The tunnel was a difficult project, even for the team working for the narco tunnel master, El Chapo.   There was a water table to contend with.

Legal minds say the video could be used against him if his case goes to trial in any of the 8 U.S. jurisdictions having indictments against the capo.

This isn’t the only controversial interview Penn has conducted.  In the past 9 years in has met with and interviewed:

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez

In 2012, he met with Argentina's president Cristina Kirchner to discuss growing tensions between Argentina and the UK.

Evo Morales Bolivian President at the presidential palace  in 2012

Cuban President  Raul Castro in 2008

He became friends with Valenzuela, and attended his funeral, as did Jessie Jackson.

Penn answered questions sent to him by the Mexican Press via email today.  One of the questions pose to him, was his reaction when discovering he was being followed during his trip to see Chapo, and photos were released:

“I have no regrets about my trip to Mexico to meet Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman Loera.

The actor Sean Penn said he has no regrets about his clandestine trip to Mexico to interview the Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo '' Guzman. 

“I have nothing to hide”.  He also expressed no regrets or thoughts of journalistic ethical missteps, for forwarding Chapo his finished article for his approval. 

He previously  stated that Chapo changed nothing of the article.

In a poll asking “is Sean Penn a CIA spy?” 51% say YES opposed to 49% NO

Where do I fall among the poll takers?  Somewhere in between.  Although I won’t lose any sleep over thinking about the possibility, but I do agree it is an intriguing possibility.

From Daily Mail