The Juárez cartel’s reaction to the attempted takeover was similar to that of ordinary firms facing such a threat. One of its first acts was to begin a public-relations campaign against the firm trying to take it over. Advertisements painted by hand onto sheets, known as narcomantas—literally, “narco blankets”—began appearing all over northwestern Mexico, urging locals to resist El Chapo. Rather than being simple drug traffickers, the banners claimed, El Chapo and his Sinaloan cronies were thieves, rapists, and even double agents of the government.
