[WildUtah]

Thousands showed up to protest the arrest of el Chapo Guzmán last year [0]. The cartels fund schools, parks, businesses and public works in Mexico.

Of course, some communities also organize to fight against cartels with autodefensas. The federal government works to shut them down and leave them vulnerable. That just leaves more communities in the hands of cartels.

Polling is against cartels because most Mexicans live where cartels aren't based.

[0] http://m.eleconomista.mx/sociedad/2014/03/01/narco-ya-prepar...

[tptacek]

77% of all Mexicans list cartel violence as the most important problem facing the country.

Crowds of people in Culiacan may consider Guzman a hero, just like crowds of people in Medellin mythologized Pablo Escobar. The Sinaloa cartel kicks back money to the whole state, and Guzman is a hometown hero.

With Guzman at the helm, the Sinaloan cartel was also less violent to civilians than its competitors, particularly the Zetas.

The government of Mexico is among the most corrupt and least trusted in the world, and is itself implicated in the mass slaughter of groups of civilians.

It does not follow that Mexico as a whole, or even the state of Sinaloa as a whole, sees the Sinaloan cartel as a force for good. They are clearly not that.

[WildUtah]

The comment you responded to cited local support for cartels, not national. Also, the government is rightly considered responsible for cartel violence more than the cartels. Previous governments limited violence by managing cartels without fighting them.

"The government of Mexico is among the most corrupt and least trusted in the world"

That is an extraordinary claim that demands evidence. Mexico is an orderly, prosperous first world democracy with serious gang problems, not some African or Middle Eastern failed state.

[wamatt]

>"The government of Mexico is among the most corrupt and least trusted in the world" That is an extraordinary claim that demands evidence.

Sure GP's comment reads a tad hyperbolic. However, Mexico is certainly perceived to be fairly corrupt.

It appears in the bottom half of the 2014 Corruptions Perception Index (CPI), ranked at Rank 103 out of 174 countries.

https://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results