Documentary recounts CIA rift during El Chapo hunt
Original reporting: Infobae México
What happened
Infobae México's advance report on an N+ Docs series recounts Mexican officials' and intelligence personnel's accounts of curtailed U.S. cooperation after the October 2015 meeting, and the pursuit ending in Guzmán's January 2016 recapture.
Reporting and context
Mexican officials and intelligence personnel say cooperation with the CIA was curtailed after Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán met Kate del Castillo and Sean Penn in October 2015, according to Infobae México's advance account of the N+ Docs documentary “Operación Cisne Negro.”
The series, due on Vix on October 27, examines Guzmán's July 11, 2015 escape from El Altiplano prison in the State of Mexico and the pursuit that ended with his recapture in January 2016. Its interviewees include former president Enrique Peña Nieto, former interior minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong and people involved in planning and carrying out the operations.
Infobae México reported that an unnamed Mexican federal intelligence agent described using a CIA platform and drone imagery to track Guzmán in real time. Authorities followed del Castillo's planned trip through Guadalajara on October 2, 2015, as she traveled with Penn to discuss a project about the former Sinaloa Cartel leader's life.
A Navy operative identified by the alias “Águila” said a capture operation was ready but was not authorized because American citizens were present. The unnamed intelligence agent said CIA contacts told them it could not proceed because Penn was involved. Osorio Chong also said Mexican authorities were asked not to intervene because of the risk to the Americans.
Director Héctor Laso told the outlet that U.S. intelligence assistance was withdrawn after the meeting. The filmmakers described a resulting dispute between the two countries' agencies and a three-month wait for another opportunity to capture Guzmán. These accounts come from the documentary's participants, as reported by Infobae México.
The report describes a subsequent unsuccessful mountain operation and Navy intelligence work tracking a relay of messengers that led investigators to a house in Los Mochis. Guzmán arrived there on January 7, 2016. The following day, according to the account, Federal Police arrested him and his bodyguard, “El Cholo Iván,” after they escaped through a tunnel and stole a car.
The filmmakers said their research drew on more than 12,000 pages concerning the escape, search and recapture, and consultations with more than 70 people, including witnesses and participating agents. The hour-long episodes combine interviews with footage of the pursuit and arrest.
Read the original report at Infobae México.