My daughter lives in Mexico and tells me that El Chapo is kinda like an old-time feudal lord. Sure, he breaks a few laws here and there but aside from the relatives of those who are killed, most people like him. He’s corrupt but so is the government and it’s easier to keep on his right side than that of the government. He does a lot of humanitarian stuff too, like seeing to it that widows and orphans get a place to live and food to eat. All things considered, he probably COULD be elected President - that is, IF the elections weren’t rigged.
He’s a Mafia boss kind of guy - they were popular in their neighborhoods because they kept the nabes safe and occasionally shared out the proceeds in a local way.
I worked with somebody from a mafia area on Staten Island who was finally asked by somebody else in the office, “ Gina, is there anything legal in your house?”
Everything fell off a truck and she’d come in to offer a bit of it to the rest of us. When she went to get married, her fiancé, who worked for an autobody shop (i.e. Chop shop, for cutting up stolen cars) couldn’t get the dresser drawer open because it was so full of cash. They got only cash payments for everything, of course, and didn’t put it on the bank. So while they didn’t go out and steal the cars or the freight or whatever it was, they benefited. People end up being part of a corrupt local economical and social system, and unless you have a good, strong legal government, that’s what’s going to happen.
Also, there are places in Mexico, dominated by the left, particularly the teachers’ union, where people pay their taxes faithfully, the town is fairly prosperous - and there’s still no potable water. The gangs haven’t helped with this, particularly since many of them are tied to the left and to the Marxist labor unions. And they are tied in with the local drinking water companies that go around in trucks and fill up the rooftop tanks.
But no challenger has arisen and you can’t blame people for being scared.