AMLO asks the population not to be “manipulated” with gifts from criminal groups

The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, called on Tuesday not to be “manipulated” with gifts from criminal groups, after the dissemination of videos in which alleged drug traffickers are seen deliver toys in the city of Guadalajara.

“Don’t let yourself be manipulated, even if they give you groceries, that is not in good faith, that is to use the people as a shield, manipulate the people, and that should not be allowed,” López Obrador said when questioned about said videos in his daily conference.

Last Saturday, images of several trucks with Christmas decorations were reproduced on social networks and in which individuals delivered boxes and various items to residents.

Jalisco state authorities reported that they have launched an investigation to determine who is behind these events, which occurred last Wednesday.

According to versions disseminated by local media, alleged members of the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG) would have delivered merchandise and toys to residents of a central sector of Guadalajara.

López Obrador maintained that it is a strategy of criminal groups so that residents alert them or prevent actions of the authorities against them.

“If cocaine is seized, the community comes out and protects the traffickers, it even seeks to retain members of the Army, the National Guard, so that they do not carry out the action,” he said.

He added that this practice “has been disappearing because people know that this is illegal and that crime should not be protected.”

But he acknowledged that efforts have been made to reactivate it in the face of drug seizures in his government, which have multiplied “like never before,” although he said that the figures will be released next week.

During the pandemic, according to the media, the delivery of groceries and other support by the CJNG, one of the most powerful and violent in Mexico, was reported in different communities of Jalisco.

Also during the confinement, the distribution of food in boxes bearing the image of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States, was documented in Sinaloa and Jalisco.