[BartSimpson]

Full title: Bodies hanging from bridge in Mexico are warning to social media users

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/ ... Popular%29

Quote:

(CNN) -- Social media users who denounce drug cartel activities along the Mexican border received a brutal warning this week: two mangled bodies hanging like cuts of meat from a pedestrian bridge.

A woman was hogtied and disemboweled, her intestines protruding from three deep cuts on her abdomen. Attackers left her topless, dangling by her feet and hands from a bridge in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. A bloodied man next to her was hanging by his hands, his right shoulder severed so deeply the bone was visible.

Signs left near the bodies declared the pair, both apparently in their early 20s, were killed for posting denouncements of drug cartel activities on a social network.

"This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the Internet," one sign said. "You better (expletive) pay attention. I'm about to get you."

The gruesome scene sent a chilling message at a time when online posts have become some of the loudest voices reporting violence in Mexico. In some parts of the country, threats from cartels have silenced traditional media. Sometimes even local authorities fear speaking out.

Bloggers who specialize in sharing news about trafficking have been threatened in the past, but this could be the first time users of such social networks have been targeted.

Investigator Ricardo Mancillas Castillo said he had not encountered a threat against Internet users in his four years based in Nuevo Laredo. But the signs of torture -- the cuts, the disembowelment -- were along the lines of what officials are used to seeing in drug-related violence.

In the case of the two victims on the bridge, their ears and fingers were mutilated, said Mancillas, who works for the public prosecutor's office.

There are no witnesses, and it is a nearly impossible task to identify the perpetrators, he said.

Thirty-six hours had passed since the bodies were found Tuesday morning, but no one had come to claim them and they remained unidentified, Mancillas said.

It will be nearly impossible to determine if the two victims actually posted anything about cartels on the Internet, as people don't usually use their real names online, he said.

The placards threatened those who report violent incidents through social media networks. It listed two blogs by name, Al Rojo Vivo and Blog del Narco.

They were signed "Z," a possible reference for the Zetas cartel, which operates in the area.

Blog del Narco is a website that deals exclusively with news related to drug violence in Mexico. Its creator remains anonymous.

On the Al Rojo Vivo forum, where citizens can make anonymous tips, one person wrote: "Don't be afraid to denounce. It's very difficult for them to find out who denounced. They only want to scare society."

One Twitter user echoed that sense of defiance in light of the threats.

"Enough! If we shut up today, we will have lost the ground that we have gained. This is the time to show what we are made of," the owner of the @QuestoyQuelotro Twitter account wrote.

In a statement sent to CNN, Blog del Narco said its site is not dedicated to denouncing crime, as are other sites.

"In addition, we are not in favor or against any criminal group, we only inform as things happen," the statement said.

More than 34,600 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced a crackdown on cartels in December 2006, according to government statistics. Other reports have listed a higher toll. The latest Mexican government tally was released in January.

[Brenda]

What. The. Fuck.

[BartSimpson]

Brenda wrote:

What. The. Fuck.

This is what those 'evil' people in Texas and Arizona are talking about when they say they want the border secured. This happened within spitting distance of the US-Mexico border.

[redhatmamma]

OMGawd.... shades of the dark ages...

Good thing we gave up our timeshare a few years ago

[Curtman]

Another escalation in violence, brought to you by prohibition. Stop the madness, and put the thugs out of business.

[Brenda]

You want to legalize hard drugs? In Mexico?

[ShepherdsDog]

Curtman thinks that if pot were legal, these guys would sit around singing kumbaya and hand out flowers to tourists....they'd be as harmless and gentle as newborn kittens

[Regina]

Reason #5,999 why I don't need to go to Mexico.

[ShepherdsDog]

hey meeester do you wan to seee sum preetee ladeeeez?

[Freakinoldguy]

Welcome to Mexico, the North American version of Mogadeshu.

[Curtman]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

Curtman thinks that if pot were legal, these guys would sit around singing kumbaya and hand out flowers to tourists....they'd be as harmless and gentle as newborn kittens

Prohibition created this violence, and the cartels that perpetrate it. You can stick your head in the sand if you like. The drugs aren't going away no matter how many innocent people get killed because of the unwinnable drug war.

[ShepherdsDog]

well...part of Mexico's problem is the corruption and poverty(which encourages corruption). People for the most part their accept as a way of life and don't do amything to try and change the status quo. Those that do, usually end up dead at the hands of gangs or government authorities.

[ShepherdsDog]

Curtman wrote:

ShepherdsDog wrote:

Curtman thinks that if pot were legal, these guys would sit around singing kumbaya and hand out flowers to tourists....they'd be as harmless and gentle as newborn kittens

Prohibition created this violence, and the cartels that perpetrate it. You can stick your head in the sand if you like. The drugs aren't going away no matter how many innocent people get killed because of the unwinnable drug war.

Well your head is defintely lodged in someplace more confining if you think it was merely drugs that made these men violent.

[desertdude]

Man what the fuck this is just disgusting and very sad at the same time. No one deserves a death like that, I can only imagine how they suffered before they met their end. Very sad indeed.

I agree with shep on this, these are clood blooded murderers who would rape and kill even your granny for 5 bucks and it is pretty pathetic to be, honest pimping the legalize drugs agenda here.

These people are in the bussiness to make a lot of money, currently its drugs and in a unicorn and rainbow filled world if everything from vallium pills to speed balls become legal they will just move on the next feeding ground, kidnapping for ransom ,sex slavery and illegal arms is currently also a side feature of this show.

Who knows what criminaly ignegious way these animals will move on to next to get their ill gotten gains. Even your down the street corner peddler will move on to something more lucrative. It is just fallacy to think its "prohibition" what is keeping these people from becoming saints and model citizens.

Maybe just a very tiny minority who grows a few pot plants in his basement and pass them on this friends aswell and lead a normal life by day i,e job, family, etc etc. would all of a sudden find themselves off the criminal list. While the majority will just move on the next best thing to get fast money, be it robbing stores to jacking cars.

[Curtman]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

Curtman wrote:

ShepherdsDog wrote:

Curtman thinks that if pot were legal, these guys would sit around singing kumbaya and hand out flowers to tourists....they'd be as harmless and gentle as newborn kittens

Prohibition created this violence, and the cartels that perpetrate it. You can stick your head in the sand if you like. The drugs aren't going away no matter how many innocent people get killed because of the unwinnable drug war.

Well your head is defintely lodged in someplace more confining if you think it was merely drugs that made these men violent.

Quote:

More than 34,600 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced a crackdown on cartels in December 2006, according to government statistics.

That's not even up for debate, even their government admits the problem is due to the prohibition crackdown.