Mexico drug cartels helping with storm relief

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico drug cartels helping with storm relief

By Dudley Althaus, GlobalPost


Posted: 09/24/13, 11:44 AM PDT |

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — As stricken communities dig out from the one-two punch of tropical cyclones that hit Mexico’s coasts last week, organized crime has been pitching in.

The Gulf Cartel, the drug-trafficking organization that controls much of the country’s northeast, is believed to have dispensed food, water and medical supplies to a rural town slammed by Hurricane Ingrid in Tamaulipas state.

A YouTube video local media attributed to the drug gang appears to show its aid effort.

“This is how the Gulf Cartel fulfilled the mission,” a message at the end of the rap-accompanied video says shortly before an image of a smiling Jesus Christ flashes on the screen.

Storm relief fits perfectly into Mexican gangsters’ long-practiced public relations campaigns, many of them carried on YouTube and other social media. The powerful drug gangs strive to present themselves as the “good bad guys,” interested only in smuggling narcotics to consumers in the United States while leaving Mexican communities in peace.

More:
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20130924/mexico-drug-cartels-helping-with-storm-relief

[Xipe Totec]

1. Do not trust them as far as you can comfortably spit out a rat. nt

[Judi Lynn]

2. That did sound a little crazy, didn't it?

I remember reading a lot of people in Colombia respected and admired Pablo Escobar because he made generous gifts to Colombian communities in the form of hospitals, schools, etc., etc.

Could be the next step is that they coerce the media into publishing the news, and becoming their P.R. agents......

I was surprised to hear the drug traffickers in Mexico are actually getting this bold, that they are making grand public gestures now!