Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo arrives at the 2011 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival special screening of "Without Men" during the Maya Indie film series i Los Angeles, July 2011.
What do a drug kingpin and a famous actress text each other about?
Thanks to a Mexican newspaper, we now have text exchanges between drug king and prison escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, known to American audiences from "Weeds" and "Jane The Virgin."
Guzman, also known as "El Chapo," was captured by Mexican authorities last week and on Wednesday, the newspaper published the flurry of text messages.
It was known that the actress and El Chapo mutually admired each other. Back in 2014 del Castillo had tweeted in support of the druglord. But these text messages reveal fresh details about their rapport.
According to Jo Tuckman, Latin America bureau chief for Vice, it's hard to decipher the kind of relationship between the actress and El Chapo.
“At one point toward the end of the conversations he says he wants her to meet his mom…this is definitely suggestive and flirtatious but quite what it is in more concrete terms, we’re not sure,” she says.
Tuckman then points to a part of a recently published Rolling Stone article that was written by actor Sean Penn, where he describes the meeting between Del Castillo and El Chapo as “a daughter returning from college. Penn also writes how El Chapo walks del Castillo to her cabin where she is going to spent the night and comes straight back.
In the article it was also revealed that El Chapo even offered to get del Castillo a cell phone so they could communicate safely. He asks an associate to get her something fashionable, pretty and with a large screen, maybe a pink one.
El Chapo goes by the name “Papa” or dad. Del Castillo is “M.”
In one exchange, Chapo shows a more paternal side.
“You are the best of this world,” he tells del Castillo. “We will be great friends … I will take care of you more than my own eyes.”
In Mexico, ‘to take care of someone more than one’s eyes’ is an expression used between daughters and fathers.
Del Castillo reacted to the news about the messages in a tweet.
Tuckman says it's not clear why El Chapo — known to be clever at evading authorities — wasn't concerned about the possibility of exposing his whereabouts through the text messages.
“We have an image of Chapo and his entourage as extremely sophisticated in terms of security and communication,” she says, “this thread of communication implies that they are not.”
Still, del Castillo did warn El Chapo about this. She even mentions that she thinks she is being followed and that her communications were being tapped.
But eventually the text messages did lead authorities to El Chapo. He was arrested in a movie-like operation.
There is no confirmation yet as to whether del Castillo got her pink BlackBerry or not.
"I think it didn't come in pink," says Tuckman. "That was the problem."
They settled on gray.
Our coverage reaches millions each week, but only a small fraction of listeners contribute to sustain our program. We still need 224 more people to donate $100 or $10/monthly to unlock our $67,000 match. Will you help us get there today?