Penn says he has nothing to hide over Guzmán meeting

American actor Sean Penn expressed no regrets about his clandestine visit to interview Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

In a brief email exchange with The Associated Press, Penn was asked about images published in El Universal on Monday that appeared to show officials watching him and actress Kate Del Castillo ahead of their October visit with Guzmán.

In one of the photos, taken on October 2, 2015, the American actor is seen in Jalisco after his arrival aboard a Hawker 900XP aircraft. From there, he went with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo to hotel Villa Ganz, where they were expected by Andrés Granados, lawyer of the head of the Sinaloa cartel. Once they checked in and dropped their luggage, they were taken on two trucks from Guadalajara to Paraiso del Sol resort in Tepic, Nayarit. From there, they took two private planes, one white and another one yellow to meet with El Chapo.

"I've got nothin' to hide," he wrote.

Guzmán was captured last Friday, more than three months after Penn's Oct. 2 meeting with him in Mexico and six months after escaping from prison.

Penn did not respond directly to questions on whether it was appropriate for him to submit his story to Guzmán for approval in advance of publication, or whether he took adequate information and operational security measures to protect his source.