Cartels are the real power; and they have plenty of connections via simply being a brown taco speaker. Don't be fooled with all the heart string shit about wanting better lives and what-not. It may not be a uniformed standing army (which means rules of war don't apply... let's fucking white phosphorus all of East LA); but they project power, with the help of law enforcement looking the other way through bribes and other shit.
Edit: As an addition to that; you may have heard the claim that US citizens smuggle guns into Mexico which leads to violence, which is one of the main complaints with the State of Mexico attempting to sue American gun manufacturers. Now here's how we cut the cake, because they're not entirely wrong, believe it or not. American citizens are buying guns, bringing them across the border to Mexico, and giving them to whoever. The part they omit is that these are either dreamers or children of dreamers/illegals, so that whole birthright citizenship thing takes precedence; but the State of Mexico also acknowledges them as being Mexican due to their parentage, especially because familial ties these "American Citizens" have to Mexico. This is how "Mexico" projects power, by using these people who allegedly love the USA and it's all they ever known; while waving the Mexican Flag and being a useless fucking leech.
And that aside, never heard that the Cartel bribing or having associations with people in various branches and locations in the military? They're everywhere, and the government knows it, but won't fucking wipe them off the face of the map like they deserve.
