As I have written before, Mexican culture extols criminal values and treats certain categories of perps like rock stars. Or in this case, like saints.

Today's news concerns how Mexico's honored narco-saint Jesus Malverde is being further recognized by a beer being named after him. There is already a shrine erected to Malverde in Sinaloa, where drug smugglers come to leave an offering which they hope will lead to a successful enterprise. Who says Mexico is becoming more secular?!

MEXICO CITY — Jesus Malverde is considered a Mexican Robin Hood and the patron saint of drug lords.

On Wednesday, he got his own beer.

A Mexican brewery in the western city of Guadalajara began selling the Malverde beer in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, long considered one of the country's main drug strongholds.

Malverde is believed to have been a construction or railroad worker who was hanged in 1909 in Culiacan, Sinaloa's capital. He later developed a reputation as someone who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, although the details of his life remain unclear. [...]

Minerva Brewery decided to use the late outlaw's name because it wanted a new beer to market in northwest Mexico, marketing director Juan Carlos Banda told The Associated Press.

"We were looking for a character from Mexican folklore, a graphic representation of local culture," he said. [Mexican company launches beer in honor of unofficial drug saint San Diego Union Tribune, December 12, 2007]

Now righteous drug mules will have a new liquid for the toast: "Jesus, drink up, you're behind!"