Jobs, roads and schools: Mexico's new president makes a play for El Chapo's homeland
Farmers in the impoverished region long ignored by the state have for decades scratched out a living from marijuana plantations and opium crops
A campesina calling herself Leocanda recently left her home in the pine-covered sierra of Mexico’s Sinaloa state in search of a favour.
Alongside her husband, a taciturn man in a cowboy hat, she travelled several hours down a perilous mountain road bearing a message for the powerful man she hoped could help her build a new house.
Here in the heartland of Mexico’s drug trade, peasant farmers have for generations scratched out a living from marijuana plantations and opium crops.
And in a region where the state has long been absent, they’ve also turned to local benefactors – – to pay medical bills, pave roads and build schools and churches.
