Alejandrina Guzman, the daughter of the notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been handing out coronavirus aid packages to impoverished people around Guadalajara amid the soaring number of COVID-19 cases in Mexico, reported Reuters.
Guzman, whose father is serving time in a Colorado prison after being extradited to the United States and found guilty in a US court on drug trafficking charges in 2019, has been using her company, El Chapo 701, to deliver boxes containing essentials such as food, masks, hand soaps and other supplies, dubbed “Chapo’s provisions”.
Legally selling clothing and alcohol stamped with a likeness of the notorious criminal, the company has been posting photo and video updates on its progress on its Facebook page.
A post on the company’s Facebook page showed Guzman handing out the parcels, while wearing a black facemask with her Father’s image on it. The caption read:
“We are working and contributing. A great pleasure to visit your homes and give you these Chapo handouts.”
Reuters cites a witness as having visited an “El Chapo 701” warehouse on 16 April, only to see stacks of boxes marked for distribution, with some of the staff wearing facemasks bearing a stenciled image of the drug lord.
The brand name “El Chapo 701” hails from a 2009 Forbes listing that ranked the drug lord, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion, as the 701st richest person in the world.
Cartels Boost COVID-19 Aid
As coronavirus cases grow in Mexico, the country’s drug cartels, known for efforts to ingratiate themselves with the poor population, have also joined aid efforts, posting photos on social media of alleged gang members of the Gulf Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel distributing packages with rice, beans, cooking oil and non-perishable foods in cans among the low-income population, reported Mexican news outlet MX Politico.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel reportedly visited eight municipalities in the central state of San Luis Potosi, handing out boxes and plastic bags filled with toilet paper and other goods, bearing stickers with the cartel's Spanish initials which read, “from your friends, COVID-19 contingency support.”
Mexico, which currently has 6,297 registered COVID-19 cases and a death toll of 486, according to the Johns Hopkins University, is facing profound recession, with its economy likely to shrink by 7.6 percent in 2020, according to Swiss investment bank UBS, cited by Newsweek.
The Mexican government has been urged to boost efforts to address the economic fallout from the pandemic, with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador facing growing criticism over his government's response to the global crisis and failing to come out with a COVID-19 stimulus package comparable to other Latin American countries, writes Newsweek.