Two half-naked mutilated bodies left hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas [2], were accompanied by "narco-messages" scrawled on cardboard saying the killings were an example of what will happen to "Internet snitches" (relajes [3] del internet). The message was signed "Z," an apparent reference to Los Zetas [2]. The threat was evidently directed against Blog del Narco [4], which runs graphic accounts and video clips of cartel war casualties, and Frontera al Rojo Vivo [5], a forum set up by Monterrey newspaper El Norte. Websites have taken up the slack as Mexico's "official" media have stopped aggressive coverage of the cartel wars in response to relentless threats and attacks against journalists [6]. (NPR's The Two-Way [7] blog, Houston Chronicle [8], Sept. 15; AFP [9], SDPnoticias [10], Sept. 14)
See our last posts on Mexico [11], the narco wars [12] and the politics of cyberspace [13].
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