In A Nutshell
Kate Del Castillo
[El Chapo]
On January 10 2012, Mexican-born actress Kate del Castillo took on the social media platform, Twitter, to share deep thoughts as well as social criticisms. Amongst her comments, she wrote "hoy creo más en El Chapo Gúzman que en los gobiernos que me esconden verdades aunque sean dolorosas...". This final line of the Tweet, where she implied to believe more in a drug lord than in the [corrupt] Mexican government, became the ignition to a fire that would viciously burn through [at least] the following 3 to 4 years.
Del Castillo published the Tweet, went to bed and was woken up by a media frenzy where she was both applauded for her bravery and criticized for praising a drug kingpin. Through interviews and her own media publications, she tried defending herself by setting the record straight and explaining that she had never encouraged violence nor drug cartels-- her Tweet had simply been an attempt to compare and satirically critique a government so incredibly corrupt that she could even trust a drug lord more than her own country's Head of State.
Around 2 1/2 years later, Kate del Castillo is contacted by El Chapo's lawyers. They deliver the message that he [El Chapo] would like to meet del Castillo and discuss a potential film about his life. After this news comes to light, Sean Penn comes into the picture and also contacts del Castillo in an attempt to make a collaborative film about El Chapo. He was chasing more fame and wanted to bring the piece to Hollywood.
After much deliberation and careful planning, the three of them met and Penn's real agenda came to light. He wanted to conduct an interview with El Chapo to then publish it on Rolling Stone magazine-- something that Kate del Castillo was completely unaware of.
This interview ended up being completed and published by Sean Penn, with no credit to del Castillo. However, the problems for Kate continued growing and escalating once El Chapo broke out of prison and was being searched for. She was accused of money laundering and corruption amongst other illegal activities. She was painted as an accomplice of the Mexican Cartel.
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In 2011, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, "El Chapo", became the most sought out criminal in Mexican territory. Then the following year, a highly acknowledged Mexican actress published a Tweet where his name was mentioned...
As soon as Kate del Castillo's Tweet was published (2012), the public and the media burst with criticism and commentary. They condemned del Castillo for making a fool of herself and having the audacity of praising a drug kingpin (which was not the case). The media, in part controlled by the government, ate her alive and made sure to paint her essentially, as a violent public enemy.
The criticisms and media massacre were strong but as with any other scandal, eventually died down. It wasn't until 2014 when El Chapo was taken into custody and subsequently contacted del Castillo that the real controversy was sparked, exploded, and her life was in turn changed forever.
The Mexican government accused Kate del Castillo of being involved with El Chapo and claimed that she was involved in illegal activities such as money laundering and obstruction of justice. Through various social media outlets-- who were all too happy to continue fueling the fire they knew would increase their ratings-- the government painted their own picture. They portrayed Kate as the villain who had befriended the worse criminal and who had become a criminal as well, and themselves as the heroes who were simply trying to do the right thing and rid their country of crime.
The government and associated press definitely used their wide array of resources and carefully-selected rhetoric to visually and audibly manipulate the public's opinion to create their own narrative and paint their own truth.
The Associated Press
[Mexican Government]
vs.