Mexican drug cartels and the daughter of famed kingpin El Chapo have been providing branded aid to people suffering from economic losses during the coronavirus pandemic.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s daughter, Alejandrina, was seen in a video posted to Facebook wearing a surgical mask with her father’s likeness emblazoned on it and handing out boxes with aid, also including Guzman’s face, according to Reuters.
The narrator of the video said the boxes contained oil, sugar, rice, and other essential items that were reportedly handed out in Guadalajara, the country’s second-largest city. The distribution is linked to the “El Chapo 701” brand, which was started by Alejandrina and markets alcohol and clothing using Guzman’s image.
Guzman, who once led the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, is spending the rest of his life behind bars at the ADX Florence supermax prison facility in Colorado. The sentencing came after a dramatic and highly publicized trial last year. The drug lord is famous for breaking out of two different Mexican prisons before being brought to the United States to stand trial.
Other violent cartels have also used the coronavirus pandemic to curry support among affected locals.
Aid packages bearing the logo of the Jalisco New Generation cartel have been seen being handed out on social media. In February, members of that particular cartel were accused of killing nine people, including four juveniles, in a shooting at a video arcade.
“From your friends, CJNG, COVID-19 contingency support,” the packages read.
Images on social media have also emerged that appear to show members of the Gulf Cartel handing out supplies to suffering people in the eastern part of the country.
Falko Ernst, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, told Reuters that the displays are a ploy to capitalize off of the crisis.
“They’re trying to leverage the perceived absence of the state for their own good and to become deeper entrenched in local communities,” Ernst said.
Early in the pandemic, prices of heroin and methamphetamine reportedly increased because of a lack of precursor chemicals used in making the drugs from laboratories in China, where the virus first emerged.
