EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – At least 65 people have died in Mexican communities devastated by torrential rains in the past week. The latest victim was reported in Juarez early Tuesday as the current swept away a man trying to wade through a flooded street.
Mexican government officials are rushing aid to towns hit worst by the storms, particularly in the state of Veracruz. So are the drug cartels.
Videos posted Tuesday on social media show men in army green uniforms with rifles slung across the shoulder handing out bags with food to women approaching a pickup truck in Tihuatlan, Veracruz.
As he hands out the bags, one of the gunmen shouts, “De parte del Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion!” (On behalf of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel!)
Photographs posted on X show a closeup of one of the bags with a white CJNG logo in a black background with the phrase, “Octubre 2025.” (October 2025)
The video appears to have been shot by cartel members for public relations purposes, as one of uniformed, masked gunmen takes the person capturing the images, “Alejate mas para que se vea bien.” (Move back so it looks better.)
Likewise show cartel gunmen posing with “grateful” residents outside homes.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday spent an hour of her daily news conference in Mexico City sharing details of how her administration, the army and local governments are helping flooding victims. She said she was aware of the cartel videos on social media.
“We saw the videos. We are not certain they are videos of real (disaster) areas. But, that obviously is not right,” she said. “In Poza Rica (Veracruz) in Alamo, the heavy machines are arriving to do the cleaning and hoping we can deliver food to the people this weekend.”
Organizations like Washington, D.C.-based International Crisis Group said Mexican cartels not only use social media to threaten and denigrate rivals, but also to garner popular support and glorify narco culture.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said cartels exploit people’s resentment over economic inequality to recruit young people on social media.
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