Cartels in Mexico adapt to coronavirus epidemic
By distributing basic necessities and replacing the authorities, drug traffickers are trying to boost their prestige and buy loyalty.
On videos, young and pretty women fill and distribute boxes of food on the outskirts of Guadalajara in western Mexico. They wear cloth masks bearing the image of the famous Mexican drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The initiative was posted on social media by one of the daughters of the former head of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, imprisoned in the United States.
There is a tendency among Mexican mafiosi to play the benefactors. They make it known, in the midst of an economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. If the cartels are themselves affected, they quickly rebound against a state overtaken by the health emergency.
Toilet paper, rice, beans, soup in sachets, oil ... the boxes of basic necessities, intended for the poor elderly, are stamped "El Chapo 701". It is the brand of clothing and alcohol created by Alejandrina Guzman, the daughter of the drug trafficker. The “701” refers to the rank occupied, in 2009, by El Chapo in the Forbes ranking of the richest men in the world.
The brand has never been implicated in illegal activities. The initiative nevertheless benefits his father’s mafia organization. It is the fourth cartel to boast about its charitable operations on the Web since the health alert declared on March 30.
Drug blocked in ports
In early April, the Gulf cartel was the first to put online a more warlike video: armed with machine-guns, masked men deliver packages to residents of poor villages in Tamaulipas state, in northeastern Mexico, stronghold of the organization. In the aftermath, the Jalisco New Generation cartel and that of Los Viagras quickly posted in their turn images of stacks of cardboard boxes and food bags, labeled with their respective mafia acronyms.
By distributing basic necessities and replacing the authorities, drug traffickers are trying to boost their prestige and buy loyalty.
On videos, young and pretty women fill and distribute boxes of food on the outskirts of Guadalajara in western Mexico. They wear cloth masks bearing the image of the famous Mexican drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The initiative was posted on social media by one of the daughters of the former head of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, imprisoned in the United States.
There is a tendency among Mexican mafiosi to play the benefactors. They make it known, in the midst of an economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. If the cartels are themselves affected, they quickly rebound against a state overtaken by the health emergency.
Toilet paper, rice, beans, soup in sachets, oil ... the boxes of basic necessities, intended for the poor elderly, are stamped "El Chapo 701". It is the brand of clothing and alcohol created by Alejandrina Guzman, the daughter of the drug trafficker. The “701” refers to the rank occupied, in 2009, by El Chapo in the Forbes ranking of the richest men in the world.
The brand has never been implicated in illegal activities. The initiative nevertheless benefits his father’s mafia organization. It is the fourth cartel to boast about its charitable operations on the Web since the health alert declared on March 30.
Drug blocked in ports
In early April, the Gulf cartel was the first to put online a more warlike video: armed with machine-guns, masked men deliver packages to residents of poor villages in Tamaulipas state, in northeastern Mexico, stronghold of the organization. In the aftermath, the Jalisco New Generation cartel and that of Los Viagras quickly posted in their turn images of stacks of cardboard boxes and food bags, labeled with their respective mafia acronyms.
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