Cartels Are Handing Out Fake Gucci Bags and Toys To Earn Mexicans’ Loyalty

Dozens of kids gathered with their parents to receive gift handouts last week, in celebration of the country’s national children’s day which takes place every year on April 30. A convoy of pick up trucks pulled up in the small town of Apulco, Zacatecas, carrying dozens of boxes packed with toys. The men inside jumped out and started handing soccer balls, candy, toy soldiers and fake Gucci handbags. 

“Happy Children’s Day,” said the stickers on the toys. “From your friend the Lord of the Roosters,” another alias for Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to local media. 

A similar scene took place in at least four different small towns in Zacatecas and Jalisco states, according to social media photos posted on Sunday. 

This is not the first time the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has handed out gifts to people in states contested by criminal organizations. 

On Mother’s Day a few years ago, the cartel leader reportedly sent his best wishes to all the mothers in the small town of Zacapu, Michoacán, another state at war between El Mencho’s cartel and Pueblos Unidos, a cartel comprised of different small criminal organizations united to push CJNG out of the state. 

“El Mencho and CJNG wish you a happy Mother’s Day in Zacapu,”, a banner posted during the handing of the presents back then said. The mothers who gathered to get their gifts also got a red rose from El Mencho, according to reports. 

Cartel members posed for the news holding the banner with wishes for the mothers at a different municipality in Jalisco, according to videos shared by different media outlets. 

On January 6. 2020, which is Mexico’s annual Three Kings Day, the CJNG handed over hundreds of toys to kids and families in the small pueblo of Totutla in the state of Veracruz. The presents were again signed by CJNG.

Handouts like these are part of an outreach strategy by the CJNG to earn the trust and loyalty of residents all over Mexico. 

The CJNG has expanded to almost every different state in Mexico since its creation in 2011, mostly by allying itself with small local cartels and overpowering others, according to a report by security analyst Vanda Felbab-Brown. 

A recent report by the Mexican National System of Public Security (SNSP for its Spanish acronym) states that CJNG has a presence in 28 of 32 states in Mexico. 

The elusive leader of CJNG, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. “El Mencho,” has a $10 million USD reward on his head.