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Friday, September 16, 2011

Cartels Threaten Social Media Users in Mexico

Reported by: Farrah Fazal
KRGV
Bloggers and social media users in Mexico aren't letting the cartels intimidate them. They continue to blog, tweet, and post information about the drug war. Two people were found hanging from a bridge this week in Nuevo Laredo with a warning to social media users.

Alex Marentes, the blogger who runs a website called Borderland Beat, knows he and his bloggers in Mexico could be the next target. He says his mission is more important than the risk.

The pictures are brutal. The words are brazen. They're a warning to social media users and bloggers. The note mentions three blogs and signed with a Z, perhaps for Zetas.

“This is the first time we've seen a direct possible tie to cartels targeting bloggers,” says Marentes.

A man and woman were apparently killed for posting something the Zetas didn't like. Marentes and his Mexican bloggers know they could be targets, too. He says the deaths of these two people are sending fear through the social media community.

“I get threats everyday here and there,” says Marentes.

Marentes started the Borderland Beat blog more than two years ago.

“It was intended to fill a voice that the media wasn't reporting,” says Marentes. “A lot of the narco cartels were targeting the media.”

Mutilated corpses, murdered people, specific names and places where cartels are doing their dirty work, his bloggers know things like who's taking over control of the plazas. You'll find all that on some of the blogs.

“How we get our information, a lot of it is translating from news that doesn’t reach out. We have people on the ground that give us info,” says Marentes.

They take great risks to be the eyes and ears.

“We had one contributor; her name was Illeana. She was very active posting a lot of information and all of a sudden she just stopped,” says Marentes.

Marentes doesn't know if Illeana is dead or alive. The cartels killed a woman last year for talking about cartel activity on a highway.

“The cartels reach deep,” says Marentes.

Not deep enough to silence Facebook, Twitter and the bloggers.

“People don’t know whets going on over there; that’s why I do it,” says Marentes.

They know knowledge is power. They want to be the change they want to see in the world.

Marentes says some Mexican blogs act as propaganda machines for the cartels. He says he won't let that happen to his. He says he can't verify the information he's getting from the bloggers because sometimes official information doesn't exist.


14 comments:

  1. Wow! Is this really smart? Can we get some clarification on Iliana, I know she use to be and Admistrator, so she had to be close to some of the other Admistrators?

    Someone said this story was the reason she dispeared,

    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/04/el-dia-de-la-coneja-for-two-little-boys.html

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  2. Im gonna keep expressing my opinions about this Drug War whether they like it or not.Chinguen su madre NARCOS.

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  3. I woulden't have a clue what's going on in Mexico without reading it here, the mainstream press dosn't cover much about the cartels and it's not that there scared, it's only the major happenings, the Casino Royal burning was huge in the U.S. as was this story on the bridge hanging, I even heard it on talk radio, this is something that affects the society in general.
    I'm sure if they just kept to the drug trade and left the horror out of it nobody would care, after all the stories that make international news is any crimes against humanity or innocents.

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  4. Keeep it up Boarderland Beat!!! Knowledge is power! This cartel shit is one day going to end one way or another, it will take time. Peechee mexico, miss the days when going over to party and eat late tacos was the life!!!

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  5. Buggs, Good Story!!! It shows that the initials "BB" could also refer to Big Balls. You and Sr. Marentes have them and I am proud to be able to be able to be an occasional poster on the Forum section of your website.

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  6. As an American who comes to this site, Thank You. The USA is sorely lacking in coverage of the hell Mexico is going thru. I wish I could do something to help you all but all I can do is continue to tell my friends about this site. Most of them never seem to come here (they will watch Breaking Bad but reality is too heavy for them, I guess). Anyways, keep up the work and maybe the more knowledge we all have and the more we talk about this, something will change.

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  7. good job mexican intelligence military network, at not doing your jobs online an in the streets against the cartels

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  8. Well just another day in the mexican north.

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  9. Los Zetas can suk balls, kill them ALL on sight...

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  10. I am an American who lives in one of the border states. Borderland Beat is an invaluable source of information for people in the Frontera states to know what's really going on in Mexico.

    I commend all of you reporters at BB for having the courage to continue to dig out the stories and post the truth.

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  11. Is it wise to publish Manteras' name or even Illiana? Haven't you learned anything? smh

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  12. BB, I commend your courage but stay safe.

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  13. Dude, a lot of folks in the press will shoot other people in the foot. Its how they do business. The danger the put people through is always an afterthought. And don't expect them to grow a conscience, they won't.

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  14. All I know is that with technology now a days,I wouldnt be suprised if zetas found who there looking for.Especially targeting antizeta blogs,likee this one.

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