Mexico City, Jan 14 (AFP) Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman fawned over the "beautiful" actress Kate del Castillo while she confessed her "dream" of meeting him in leaked text messages filled with warm exchanges.
The chats, published by the newspaper Milenio yesterday, took place before and after Guzman, Del Castillo and US actor Sean Penn sat down for a now notorious meeting in the Mexican jungle in October.
The messages provide a new window into the mysterious relationship between the then-fugitive and Del Castillo, who brokered the get-together between Guzman and Penn -- even though the fugitive appeared to know little about the actor.
In the messages intercepted by Mexican authorities, the pair discusses meeting over tequila and champagne, with Guzman promising to "take care of you more than my own eyes" while the Mexican-American actress expresses her "eagerness to see you eye-to-eye."
"I'll take care of you. You'll see when you come," Guzman, who went by the name "Papa" in the messages, wrote on September 26, just over two months after his escape from a maximum-security prison.
"You're so beautiful, my friend, in every aspect," the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel leader told Del Castillo, famous for her role as a drug boss in the TV show "The Queen of the South."
Del Castillo, whose chat name was "Beauty," answered: "I must confess that I feel protected for the first time. You'll know my story when we have time to speak, but for some reason I feel safe and I know you know who I am, not as an actress or public figure, but as a woman, as a person."
The actress, who has her own tequila brand, added: "I'll bring my tequila to share it with you because it is a dream that I wanted to fulfill."
Two government officials told AFP that the text messages leaked to Milenio were authentic.
Del Castillo took to Twitter late yesterday to make her first public statement since the meeting with Guzman became public on Saturday.
Penn, who wrote about the October 2 meeting with Guzman in a Rolling Stone article published on Saturday, said the kingpin wanted Del Castillo to help him make a biopic about himself.
