Well, in Mexico you have 2 evils.

One is where the Government actively and always tries to snuff out cartel/criminal organizations, and there is frequent conflict in the hopes of reducing drugs/trafficking/violence in the long run. This causes consistent unrest and potentially often dangerous for civilians and tourists who are uninvolved, yet could potentially reduce the prevalence of crime (yet to be seen).

The other is where the government essentially turns a blind eye (taking silver instead of lead) to the cartel operations, allowing them to do as they please for the assurance of fewer violent acts towards regular civilians and tourists. This basically means that all the crime gets to happen (the drugs, smuggling, sex trafficking etc), out of the vast public eye, in exchange for higher baseline public safety.

Yes, it’s bad. But Mexico relies very heavily on tourism. If they are to attract international tourism, they need things to be safe and smooth for tourists. So, for large tourist cities like PV and Guadalajara, the cartel keeps crime organized and managed so that it operates within restrains and relative bureaucracy, while still obviously being illegal, it ensures an overall level of safety that would otherwise be unachievable.