Mexico City: Mexico's president urged the public not to accept holiday handouts and gifts from drug cartels, after videos of spectacled pickup trucks identifying the drivers as members of the Jalisco drug cartel were posted online on Tuesday.
In order to win the support of the local population, some drug gangs were confirmed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to be considering resuming previous giveaways.
In his morning press conference, López Obrador said that some locals have attempted to protect traffickers, prevent drug seizures or oppose the creation of National Guard bases to combat drug trafficking.
The source of the gifts, mostly toys, that were distributed on December 21 in a low-income area of Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state, has not been confirmed by authorities.
The Jalisco Cartel and a local gang leader known only by the alias "RR" were praised in "Narco Corrido" songs, played by a convoy of trucks bearing Santa decorations and Christmas lights. when they passed through the neighborhood.
In a video clip, a bystander can be heard saying, "All RR people. Who says they don't provide anything for you? Why doesn't the government take similar action?"
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López Obrador acknowledged that the practice was coming back when asked about the video on Tuesday; In the 2010s, such cartel Christmas gift rounds were common in the northern border state of Tamaulipas. According to López Obrador, this was a component of a plan by criminal gangs to garner support from the public.
"We knew, it was clear, it was public record, that since the beginning of this administration, criminal gangs were relying heavily on people in communities, on social grounds." People use them as human shields.
López Obrador said that recently, "some groups are trying to revive this (gift-giving) method by encouraging people to support them." Communities rally to support drug traffickers when drug seizures occur, and some even attempt to kidnap soldiers and (National) Guard personnel.
Additionally, local residents in three states have opposed the construction of National Guard barracks. López Obrador cited "three or four cases" of local protests and blamed it on cartel meddling.
However, in the case of the protests in Mexico City, locals have claimed that they believe the barracks are unnecessary, harmful to the environment, or likely to escalate violence in the area.
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Gangs drilling into public pipelines to steal petrol and diesel have found the country's biggest local support. Several communities protested the police and army raids because fuel thieves had allowed local people to use illegal gas taps.
However, López Obrador claimed that his campaign against fuel theft undermined such criminal collaboration. The president claimed that this support had almost disappeared because people knew it was illegal and that they should not protect criminals. "What I advise people to do is don't allow yourself to be manipulated and don't support these gangs,"