Mexico's president has urged citizens not to accept holiday handouts and gifts from drug gangs after videos of flashy pickup trucks handing out numerous gifts and passersby describing the drivers as members of the Jalisco drug cartel surfaced on the Internet, AP reports.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed that some drug gangs had tried to resume such giveaways -- often occurring years ago -- to gain local support.

According to him, locals in some communities tried to protect drug dealers, stop drug seizures or oppose the establishment of National Guard bases designed to combat drug trafficking.

A convoy of trucks carrying inflatable Santa Claus decorations and Christmas lights drove through the neighborhood shouting "narco corrido" songs praising the Jalisco cartel and a local gang leader known by the alias.

Reacting to the video, Lopez Obrador acknowledged that the practice is resurgent; in the 2010s, such handouts of Christmas gifts from cartels were commonplace in the northern border state of Tamaulipas. Lopez Obrador said it was part of a strategy by criminal groups to win popular support.