With his warning, he responded to videos on social networks that are supposed to show members of a crime syndicate in the state of Jalisco driving in motorcades through poorer neighborhoods and handing out toys and candy at Christmas.
“Don’t be manipulated,” the head of state called on Tuesday (local time) during a press conference in Mexico City. Such actions only served the cartels to gain the sympathy of the inhabitants. “Even if you feed them, you don’t do it with honest intentions, but to use the people as a shield,” López Obrador warned.
The videos are said to be from neighborhoods in the neighboring cities of Guadalajara and Zapopan, in the state of Jalisco. You can see gifts being handed out to people on the street from Christmas decorated vans. In some clips, the action is said to have been initiated by “RR”. The leader of one of the cells of the dangerous cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) is known by this abbreviation.
Mexico is home to numerous drug cartels and other criminal groups vying for control of territories. Last year, an average of 94 murders per day were registered in the North American country with a population of about 126 million.
(SDA)