Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hola, soy Iliana

I am happy to announce that I will be reporting for Borderland Beat. There is so much happening right now, especially in the area of Tamaulipas which I will be covering.

Some of you are asking me for some background information, but for security reasons I can't provide my name or  location.

Just so you know, most of the information here at Borderland Beat many times comes from open sources and is not verified. It is for information purposes only and we have found that the Mexican government and Mexican media sometimes are not reliable with their information, so understand that, bueno?

You can go to the "About" page for more information on this. We also need more authors from the Mexican side of the border, so if you have the time to report on events, let the admin know, and we could make you part of the team. The target audience is English readers, so it will have to be in English.

If you have something to contribute, be a story or material, send it my way, I have my email on my profile.

Well that is all and thank you for all the encouragement.

Here is a Youtube video of the incident in Torreon where at least four people were executed. It's never good news here, but it's important for the folks in the US know what is happening here in Mexico.

Chao!

19 comments:

  1. Hi, nice to meet you Iliana, and glad to have you working with borderlandbeat.

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  2. LLiana,

    Welcome to the beat and I look forward to reading you post. I will be intouch as I am north and looking for contact south to share with. I will send you email address soon and you be careful down there.

    NOC67

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  3. You will be busy, it is schedule to get very hot in Tamaulipas, if you live long enough for the next story!

    Who are you? I know you are in the state of Tamaulipas! Others will too!

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  4. Iliana:

    No mames! How come the target audience is the US?

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  5. Why is my name important to you?
    What should be important is the information, not me.

    I stand corrected, it is targeted for English readers.

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  6. Wow! In just in two days of publishing on Borderland Beat I have received already 11 threats on e-mail, some with intent to intimidate me.

    Some baiting me to expose my identity.

    That is what our society has come to.

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  7. Keep up the good work, please do not get intimidated by the ignorant people in this society.

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  8. Excuse my French, but Fuck that Iliana, don’t be intimidated by this baboons.. There’s no way anybody can know your identity of you play it smart.

    Besides, we only get one life, so live it.. Have no regrets, and if you change one single persons point of view, you've done your job.. You've done your job.

    Besides, alot of this guys are fanboys, not the actual deal.. Alot of this idiots are the typical trash that have all their myspace and facebook covered with Corridos and Video tributes to narcos who they have never met, but admire.. Not knowing that those guys are only men when they have a gun nearby..

    Face it kiddies, the era when you would admire the "narco" is way gone.. I was also once a kid, and I grew up on the Golden Era, when Narcos where not all bad people, people who took care of their city, of their pueblo, people who would send gifts to everybody on the block on christmas.. Narcos who would make street long cookouts and have big parties to celebrate the good arrival of their merchandise.. Now it's all about Killing, Snorting and Fucking... More, more, more..

    Next time you get a threat.. Thank em..
    Thank em because in order for there to be people like us, there needs to be people like them.. Without them we would not be who we are..

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  9. LLiana

    Don't let them intimidate you. I already know who you are and they will bring a hurting to their cartel if they were to ever touch you. The intelligence has a long arm and we are watching you every day. I am disappointed in the Cartels as they had integrity regarding innocents until recently. They dont want US involvment yet they allow the secarios to go unchecked. I remember when the leaders ran their operations and didnt allow this kind of behavior, but now I have to ask "Who is really the Boss now?" best of luck and be careful as we all know they are looking. Talk to no one mention to no one you are best just remaining the ghost you are for now. Things will change soon trust me.

    NOC67

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  10. Iliana,
    I misread your post (about US target readers).

    Anyway, the "no mames" expression is about the other comments (name, avatar, privacy, et cetera). I like this blog, but is hard for me to take it serious when you write all this stuff. I do not agree about mexican media (I agree about government though) not being reliable, or at least, I think this page is as reliable as they are. Much of this information, as you said, "comes from open sources and is not verified" And there are some newspapers who do tell the truth. Is not like the cartels or the government (or both) control all the media.

    I think this is a good blog, but the information here should be taken with a grain of caution just as we take the information on mexican media and digest all the different sources to get to the truth. Is not like there is a proper news coverage on this blog. Is just people who post comments on their version of the truth or what others have told them. There are a few whom have seen it firsthand, but a lot is based on hearsay just like facebook or tweeter.

    Don't get me mistaken, there are a lot of problems in Mexico and a war is being fought by the military and different cartels and there are people murdered almost, if not everyday. I am afraid for the future, but it has not come to a point where we have to grab a gun and take turns to sleep.

    JM from Mexico

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  11. Information here is just information, no one has to give their identity to be taken serious, is up to you how you process the information. Here is a short explanation from the "About" page as Iliana tried to explain:

    "Most of the information and content is derived from open source media, unconfirmed individual sources and personal view point of author. Most content is for information purposes only and is not from direct official sources and in most cases not confirmed."

    Also there are tons of posts here from Mexican media sources who have reported on incidents that were not correct and yes most of the information was provided by official governmental agencies or military. So yes, I don't think it's intentional, just bad investigative reporting. Same difference in my eyes.

    One example of this is the Easter shooting that Iliana reported on that killed two young boys. The Mexican media, which we picked up on immediately, said this about the shooting:

    "A shootout in northern Mexico between soldiers and suspected drug cartel gunmen killed two children and wounded five of their relatives who were caught in the crossfire...."

    I am sure the media got that information from the military. But we immediately started to get e-mails from people who said that the kids were killed by the military (I was going to report on it, until I found out Iliana was on it). Finally "la Jornada" and "El Milenio" (not local media outlets as Iliana reported) interviewed the survivors and they gave a whole different account of what happened. The federal government finally admitted that the kids were killed by the military and were now investigating it.

    So yeah! Some of us just refuse to take the BS that comes out from the willing media who is afraid to ask the hard questions and is not the real deal, that is why most people are relying on Facebook or Tweeter for their information, but it should not be like this.

    Some reporters or news sources have stopped reporting because of executions of reporters, Mexico leads in reporter execution in the world, so they have reason to be leery. There have been rumors about news blackouts in the northeastern part of Mexico recently.

    Believe me we are not making shit it up, it's out there, and at least we try to look in to it and report it. But you can find it all over the internet from reputable media sources, many blogs and social networks. Most of the blogs and social networks are actually based on eye witness account who are posting.

    So what do you want?

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  12. We have not heard from Iliana for a while, is she OK? Can someone check up on her or give us an update on her safety?

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  13. I am doing fine, just busy here with other things. I will post something for Monday.

    I think BLB should take a breather on Saturdays and Sundays, what do you think?

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  14. Gerardo " a common citizen"April 10, 2010 at 12:16 PM

    Criminals never take a day off girl! Why should you!

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  15. Liliana.Be very carefull, we will pray for you.Thank you for keeping us well informed abuot Tamaulipas and Monterrey
    Jose from Los Angeles

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  16. praying for a leader like father Hidalgo it amazes me that peasants and farmers picked up pitchforks and machetes and drove the imperial french army out of Mexico. Are we left with only cowards?

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  17. It's easy to scream "Revolution"! While one is still hiding in the crowd..

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  18. things are still very heavy and bad in comales, but we have hopes since some soldiers came in and brought an ambulatory clinic. we are still in need of food and water. our kids are scared and we don't have very much to keep them calm with. we are scared and are in desperate need of good news.

    ReplyDelete

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