Posted on 08/12/2010 4:47:12 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY — An anonymous, twentysomething blogger is giving Mexicans what they can't get elsewhere — an inside view of their country's raging drug war.
Operating from behind a thick curtain of computer security, Blog del Narco in less than six months has become Mexico's go-to Internet site at a time when mainstream media are feeling pressure and threats to stay away from the story.
Many postings, including warnings and a beheading, appear to come directly from drug traffickers. Others depict crime scenes accessible only to military or police.
The undifferentiated content suggests that all sides are using the blog — drug gangs to project their power, law enforcement to show that it too can play rough, and the public to learn about incidents that the mainstream media are forced to ignore or play down.
In at least one case Blog del Narco may have led to a major arrest — of a prison warden after a video posting detailed her alleged system of setting inmates free at night to carry out killings for a drug cartel.
The mysterious blogger hides his identity behind an elaborate cyber-screen. The Associated Press wrote to the blog's e-mail address, and the blogger called back from a disguised phone number. He said he is a student in northern Mexico majoring in computer security, that he launched the blog in March as a "hobby," but it now has grown to hundreds of postings a day and 3 million hits a week.
"People now demand information and if you don't publish it, they complain," he said.
Indeed, President Felipe Calderon has heard complaints that his government is not putting out enough information to allow people to function and stay safe.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
This is not an aberation. A number of newspapers and magazines in Mexico (and the rest of Latin America) run pictures like that all the time, along with horrendous car wrecks, explosions and other disasters with dead and mutilated bodies, etc. I would never, ever look.
I’ve seen enough of the photos NAFBPO has sent out, don’t think I can stomach any more.
CBS did a spot tonight on the journalists killed in Mexico...how they report only what won’t get them killed. 12 last year alone. They even admitted Ciudad Jaurez is the most dangerous/deadly city in the world.
Yes, I’ve seen quite a few sites with photos of headless bodies, etc. But never have I watched a video of someone being choked to death or slowly having their head cut off while they were still alive. I regret watching...but, it makes the situation so much more real to me....what has mankind come to....what kind of human beings are capable of doing these things to another human being? I truly believe those same kind of people, members of the drug gangs, capable of doing the same thing, are here in the states living/working among us.
Apparently this young college student is using his site to get the message out, but each of the sides in the drug war are using the opportunity to threaten each other and boast about the killings via video.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.