Mexico can’t stop drug cartels from handing out virus aid

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's president has acknowledged that drug cartels have been handing out aid packages during the coronavirus pandemic, and called on them to stop.

But President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the government can't stop the practice.

Videos posted on social media have shown one of the daughters of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman handing out boxes of rice, pasta and toilet paper with Guzman's image printed on them.

López Obrador said Monday such handouts have occurred “in several places,” and noted “it is something that happens, it cannot be avoided.” But he called on the cartels to stop it, and instead “think of their families.”