Mexican actress, Kate del Castillo, who helped set up El Chapo's infamous Rolling Stone interview with Sean Penn says she has fled the country because she is being ‘persecuted’ and losing work 


The actress del Castillo, who met drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman with Sean Penn says the infamous meeting has forced her to flee the country. 


De Castillo still faces government accusations of obstruction of justice and money laundering related to the 2015 meeting with the Sinaloa cartel leader, who was on the run after his second escape from a Mexican prison. 

The 44-year-old former soap opera star said that her involvement in the situation has also cost her acting jobs and she claims that a 'macho' Mexican government is persecuting her only because she's a woman.

The Mexico City native fears that if she returns to Mexico, she'll be detained so she had to shoot her upcoming Netflix series 'Ingobernable' or 'Ungovernable' in the United States.

Del Castillo told The Associated Press that she's grateful to Netflix for standing by her.

'It's not been a good year,' she said. 'I couldn't work because people didn't want me, because they were afraid.'

Of the meeting with the drug lord and Penn, she said it was 'a little too risky.' 

'I've done nothing wrong. Probably it was a little too risky. You can like it or not, but it's nothing illegal. Why am I the only one who is being persecuted? Because I'm a woman. If I was a man, this would never have happened. I get it, especially in Mexico we're very macho." 

Guzman was recaptured in January 2016 and is fighting extradition to the U.S., where he faces drug trafficking and other charges. 

Now living in Los Angeles, de Castillo said she won't let her exile from Mexico dampen her activism for animal rights, though she does worry about her parents' security in Mexico. 
AP