Post date: Nov 10, 2011 1:16:13 AM
Mexican social media boom draws drug cartel attacks, as fourth victim is found dead with threatening message.
NUEVO LAREDO, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO (NOVEMBER 09, 2011) REUTERS - Informing about drug trafficking and organised crime through social media sites has become a hazard in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas state as one more victim has been claimed.
In the early hours of Wednesday (November 09) the decapitated body of a man, identified only by his alleged nickname "El Rascatripas" (the gut scraper), was found lying next to a monument.
It is believed the victim had been an active contributor to a chat room on a community website, "Nuevo Laredo en Vivo" (Nuevo Laredo Live).
His mutilated body was found at dawn at a busy intersection under a monument, next to sign saying: "Hello, I'm the gut scraper and this happened to me for not understanding I should not report using social media. With this report I say good-bye to Nuevo Laredo Live. Always remember, never forget."
Police discovered the body after receiving an anonymous call.
He is believed to be the fourth victim killed related to social media sites.
"In the case of Tamaulipas the victims are bloggers, not professional reporters. They are people who, using their own means, collect news and place them on the internet. Even then, as long as the state does not show there are limits and a line that can't be crossed on behalf of organised criminals, unfortunately this situation will probably not change," said Americas Director at Human Rights Watch, Jose Miguel Vivanco.
In September, the headless body of Maria Macias, who used the Internet to denounce the brutality of local drugs lords, was dumped on a busy street.
Macias, 39, had also been an active contributor to "Nuevo Laredo en Vivo" (Nuevo Laredo Live), where she posted information about crimes and urged fellow citizens to do the same.
The site lists official hotline numbers to the police and army to report crimes in the city just across the border from Laredo, Texas.
Her mutilated body was found next to computer keyboards and another threatening message.
Macias' killing, and that of two other people believed to be active users of social media in Nuevo Laredo, shows cartels here are now turning their focus to the websites and social media networks which are flourishing as an alternative source of information about drug violence in Mexico.
Mexicans are avid fans of Twitter, and Internet use has doubled in the last six years.
Online offerings include official anonymous tip sites, specialist blogs which carry explicit photos of cartel murder victims and neighbourhood watch-style sites run by local citizens or newspapers.
But the drug gangs are also cyber-savvy. They have used YouTube to post videos showing how they torture and murder rivals, often forcing confessions before an on-camera execution.
And after silencing local news media in many areas, they are now going after their critics in social media.
Tamaulipas is one of the states hardest-hit by the violence, which has killed about 42,000 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels in late 2006.
The Zetas gang is fighting a vicious battle with its former employer, the Gulf Cartel, in the state to control the local drugs market as well as lucrative smuggling routes to the United States.