‘Narco-philanthropy’ sounds like an oxymoron; Mexican cartels are notorious for drug smuggling and gruesome displays of violence - not handing out tinned tuna to the poor. Nevertheless, COVID-19 has presented the cartels with an opportunity to win political capital with the communities they operate within by ‘charitably’ providing goods and services.

Since early 2020, there have been reports of several cartels providing basic goods and services for members of poorer communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Viagras, the Gulf Cartel and some Zeta splinter groups have all reportedly been involved in providing COVID-relief in their respective areas of operation.

The aid provided generally consists of basic goods such as rice, tinned tuna, toilet paper, coffee, soup, and sugar. Notably, many of the cartels have stamped aid boxes and packaging with their names and logos so that recipients are aware of where the aid has come from. For example, residents of Ciudad Victoria and Matamoros have received boxes with basic goods clearly labelled to indicate that they were provided by the Gulf Cartel.

To outsiders the images are quite jarring. Pictures have emerged on social media and news platforms of armed sicarios posing alongside civilians who have just been given their aid packages. However, the imagery should not be surprising. For the cartels to maximise their hearts and minds initiative, they must not only provide the aid, but be seen to be providing the aid. 

^ An elderly woman recieving an aid package from an armed Gente Nueva member in  Santa Bárbara, Chihuahua.

Source: CDS Social Media Posted on WhatsApp. Reprinted in Infobae, https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2020/04/24/presuntos-integra...loa-repartieron-despensas-en-chihuahua-con-la-imagen-de-bin-laden/

The cartels are primarily motivated to provide aid during the pandemic to increase their political capital and win support. Although the cartels are first and foremost driven by profits and not politics, winning the support of the communities they operate in can help to lessen opposition to their more illicit activities. If the local population have a favourable view of the cartels, they will be less likely to cooperate with Mexican law enforcement and military personnel to tackle organised crime.

The extent to which the cartels can acquire political capital and win hearts and minds depends upon the strength of the Mexican government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus far, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has only provided modest government assistance for business owners and workers in Mexico. This has made it easier for the cartels to create a relationship of dependency with vulnerable members of local communities. Without adequate support from the government or legitimate non-government organisations (NGOs), poor and vulnerable community members cannot afford to turn down aid offered by the cartels. People who are dependent on cartel aid are therefore more likely to passively accept the presence of organised criminal groups within their communities or may even comply or assist them.

What is the threat posed by narco-philanthropy?

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has coincided with a rise in ‘charitable’ activities performed by the cartels, this is not the first time organised criminal groups have been observed providing aid in Mexico.

Research by Shawn T. Flanigan in 2014 revealed that La Familia Michoacaina (LFM) and their successor offshoot group, the Knights Templar, were unusually active providers of ‘charitable’ goods and services.

Flanigan also noted that several cartels have been involved in some form of narco-philanthropy, ranging from: short term relief, health services, the construction and/or maintenance of infrastructure, the provision of utilities, education, agricultural assistance, loans and even the administration of local justice.

To quote Flanigan: ‘a void in state service provision provides an opening for violent actors to gain the allegiance of the community and undermine the authority of the state’. Insurgent groups are well known to use similar parallel governance activities to erode government legitimacy and win hearts and minds.

Indeed, a lively academic debate exists as to whether the activities of the cartels in Mexico amount to a ‘criminal insurgency’. This has profound consequences for practitioners too. If policymakers in Mexico conclude that the cartels are in fact insurgents, a military-led response is to be expected. 

However, two factors weigh heavily against the argument that narco-philanthropy should categorise the cartels firmly as insurgents: scale and intent. Firstly, the scale of narco-philanthropy is not large enough to pose a major threat to the government’s legitimacy. Although the cartels are able to exploit gaps in the government’s provision of vital goods and services, they do not do so on a large enough scale to replace the government altogether. Moreover, with the exceptions of LFM and the Knights Templar, narco-philanthropy tends to be applied on a more opportunistic basis than as a concerted long-term strategy by the vast majority of cartels. 

Secondly, cartels remain motivated by profits, not politics or ideology. Although the cartels increasingly adopt means and ways in common with insurgents; the cartels do not intend to usurp the Mexican state and take charge themselves. This means that narco-philanthropy is adopted as a way to decrease tensions between cartels and local communities that may hinder profit-making operations such as the smuggling of weapons and drugs.

Nevertheless, the Mexican government should not grow complacent. Decades of corruption and ineffective policies have allowed the cartels to thrive. Successive Mexican governments have failed to find a winning strategy. President Felipe Calderón’s military-led approach failed, as did President Enrique Peña Nieto’s police and law enforcement-led approach. The current president, Lopez Obrador’s so-called, ‘hugs, not bullets’ strategy does not seem to be any more effective than the approaches of his predecessors. The government should not allow narco-philanthropy to become another advantage the cartels enjoy in a country which is already fertile territory for organised crime.

The government can effectively counter narco-philanthropy with adequate state-provided aid. The authorities should aggressively target COVID-relief at poorer communities located in cartel territory. Legitimate NGOs can also step up to fill in gaps the government struggle to fill. The key objective is to provide a more appealing and sustainable alternative to goods and services provided by the cartels to limit their capacity to grow political capital.

The key question for practitioners and academics alike will be whether the cartels adopt a more sustained and strategic approach to narco-philanthropy. As James Kostelnik and David Skarbek have noted in their research, it is rational for the cartels to use a combination of charitable acts and coercion to safeguard their profits. However, the cartels have overwhelmingly relied on the latter to achieve their ends. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in ‘charitable’ acts by the cartels, but not to the extent one would expect from an insurgent group committed to overthrowing the government. For now, narco-philanthropy remains a way for the cartels to foster goodwill with community members who might otherwise oppose their activities. However, the government should closely monitor the extent to which the cartels engage in parallel governance activities to avoid a further loss of legitimacy in the eyes of the Mexican population.