Mexican blogger murdered by cartel

[Alkaloid]

I knew things were bad in Mexico, and that there was essentially an active war going on between the military, the police and the cartels, but I had no idea it was this bad.

Link

Blogger decapitated as Mexican cartels turn on social networks
September 26, 2011 - 9:55AM

Police found a woman's decapitated body in a Mexican border city on Saturday, alongside a handwritten sign saying she was killed in retaliation for her postings on a social networking site.

The gruesome killing may be the third so far this month in which people in Nuevo Laredo were killed by a drug cartel for what they said on the internet.

Morelos Canseco, the interior secretary of northern Tamaulipas state, where Nuevo Laredo is located, identified the victim as Marisol Macias Castaneda, a newsroom manager for the Nuevo Laredo newspaper Primera Hora.
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Mexico's increasingly brutal drug war has now seen the cartels targeting a perceived threat coming from internet bloggers.

Mexico's increasingly brutal drug war has now seen the cartels targeting a perceived threat coming from internet bloggers.

The newspaper has not confirmed that title, and an employee of the paper said Macias Castaneda held an administrative post, not a reporting job. The employee was not authorised to be quoted by name.

But it was apparently what the woman posted on the local social networking site, Nuevo Laredo en Vivo, or "Nuevo Laredo Live," rather than her role at the newspaper, that resulted in her killing.

The site prominently features tip hotlines for the Mexican army, navy and police, and includes a section for reporting the location of drug gang lookouts and drug sales points — possibly the information that angered the cartel.

The message found next to her body on the side of a main thoroughfare referred to the nickname the victim purportedly used on the site, "La Nena de Laredo," or "Laredo Girl". Her head was found placed on a large stone piling nearby.

"Nuevo Laredo en Vivo and social networking sites, I'm The Laredo Girl, and I'm here because of my reports, and yours," the message read. "For those who don't want to believe, this happened to me because of my actions, for believing in the army and the navy. Thank you for your attention, respectfully, Laredo Girl...ZZZZ."

The letter "Z" refers to the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel, which is believed to dominate the city across from Laredo, Texas.

It was unclear how the killers found out her real identity.

By late Saturday, the chat room at Nuevo Laredo en Vivo was abuzz with fellow posters who said they knew the victim from her online postings, and railing against the Zetas, a gang founded by military deserters who have become known for mass killings and gruesome executions.

They described her as a frequent poster, who used a laptop or cell phone to send reports.

"Girl why didn't she buy a gun given that she was posting reports about the RatZZZ ... why didn't she buy a gun?" wrote one chat participant under the nickname "Gol".

Earlier this month, a man and a woman were found hanging dead from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo with a similar message threatening "this is what will happen" to internet users. However, it has not been clearly established whether the two had in fact ever posted any messages, or on what sites.

Residents of Mexican border cities often post under nicknames to report drug gang violence, because the posts allow a certain degree of anonymity.

Social media like local chat rooms and blogs, and networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, are often the only outlet for residents of violence-wracked cities to find out what areas to avoid because of ongoing drug cartel shootouts or attacks.

Local media outlets, whose journalists have been hit by killings, kidnappings and threats, are often too intimidated to report the violence.

Mexico's Human Rights Commission says eight journalists have been killed in Mexico this year and 74 since 2000. Other press groups cite lower numbers, and figures differ based on the definition of who is a journalist and whether the killings appeared to involve their professional work.

While helpful, social networking posts sometimes are inaccurate and can lead to chaotic situations in cities wracked by gang confrontations. In the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, just south of Tamaulipas, the state government dropped terrorism charges last week against two Twitter users for false posts that officials said caused panic and chaos in late August.

AP

[K. A. Pital]

And I still remember people wondering just why I thought Mexico is a very bad place to live in and why I compared it unfavorably to the Second World and pre-90s Russia specifically. 15000 people died in shootouts in 2010. That's crazy, because it is more fitting for a low-intensity wartime environment than for anything resembling peacetime.

And to think that this is at the doorstep of the richest nation in the world... *laughs sadly* True is the saying that history repeats as farce the second time. When Ireland was starving at Britain's doorstep, nobody gave a shit. When Mexico is coughing blood from drug cartel and mafia violence, nobody gives a shit.

[The Romulan Republic]

The more I read about the situation in Mexico, the more I think the US or the UN should send a large army of peacekeeping troops there.

[loomer]

Not surprising, unfortunately, but it sure as hell makes you respect the people who keep blogging about this anyway. These are just everyday people who are quite literally risking their lives just to try and get a little truth out when the media is corrupt.

[Surlethe]

Is it all of Mexico or a strip of border states along the drug route? After all, rising incomes and a higher standard of living in Mexico has cut Mexican emigration to the US down to nothing; if the country were increasingly torn by violence, one would expect emigration from Mexico to be increasing, not falling.

[Alkaloid]

As far as I understand the cartels don't just operate along the border, its most of the country.

The more I read about the situation in Mexico, the more I think the US or the UN should send a large army of peacekeeping troops there.

I really don't think sending foreign troops in is the answer here. The Mexican government needs to handle it on its own if it's going to build any respect in the eyes of the populace and the criminal element/cartels. At this point though, I think you might be right, don't treat this like a domestic gang problem, because it isn't, its a civil war in all but name now.

[Teebs]

While Mexico's murder rate is high, as I understand it it's not the constant anarchy that a lot of people seem to think it is. For example, Brazil actually has a somewhat higher murder rate than Mexico, and no one seems to think intervention is needed there.

[K. A. Pital]

Brazil's big towns are killfuckerous as far as crime goes. City of God does it some justice, and perhaps no harsher depiction is necessary. I wouldn't say the US should intervene. It was interventions which turned Afghanistan into a narcostate.

Is it all of Mexico or a strip of border states along the drug route? After all, rising incomes and a higher standard of living in Mexico has cut Mexican emigration to the US down to nothing; if the country were increasingly torn by violence, one would expect emigration from Mexico to be increasing, not falling.

Or maybe the current-generation pool of possible emigrants is already depleted (thus one needs to wait several years for the new upswing) and US efforts aimed at combatting illegal immigration are preventing a large rise in immigration.

I've read that NYT article, and it seems to center on a few inland regions instead of really analyzing the bigger picture. It has a passage on demographic factor which really explains a lot:

In simple terms, Mexican families are smaller than they had once been. The pool of likely migrants is shrinking. Despite the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, birth control efforts have pushed down the fertility rate to about 2 children per woman from 6.8 in 1970, according to government figures.

Quality of life may be fucking crap, but demographic transition makes outward migration far lower than it would have been if fertility rates stood at the rates they were. Hell, god damn India is experiencing a demographic transition with fertility rate at what, 2.5 per woman?

I guess the civil insecurity and crime situation is not the first thing impacting the volume of emigrants.

[Broomstick]

The more I read about the situation in Mexico, the more I think the US or the UN should send a large army of peacekeeping troops there.

1) The record of peacekeeping troops really fixing a problem like that is far from satisfactory.
2) Quite a few Mexicans are still angry about the last time the US invaded their country.
3) The US and its military is stretched quite thin right now.
4) The US has plenty of problems to deal with in its own borders and doesn't really want to deal with another nation's worth.

As for the immigration issue, or why aren't more Mexicans going north -
A) The US has cracked down on illegal border crossings so it's gotten much more difficult to sneak in.
B) Crossing in the weak spots and via hiding in vehicles has gotten a lot more dangerous - it's estimated hundreds die in the southwestern desert each year, thousands die in total crossing the border illegally, and tens of thousands over the past couple decades. Granted, that's a fraction of the hundreds of thousands/millions who have crossed successfully, but there's enough danger to discourage at least some people.
C) Smaller Mexican families (border crossing is mostly a young person's game)
D) Rising standard of living in Mexico - it's still low compared to the US, but better than it was thus giving less incentive to risk being an illegal immigrant.
E) Falling wages/fewer jobs in the US - a lot of the US underemployed are now taking the jobs that used to go to illegal aliens, plus the US has fewer jobs overall - also means less incentive to cross the border.

[Alkaloid]

While Mexico's murder rate is high, as I understand it it's not the constant anarchy that a lot of people seem to think it is. For example, Brazil actually has a somewhat higher murder rate than Mexico, and no one seems to think intervention is needed there.

The murder rate may be higher, but are Brazilian gangs actively battling the police and army in the streets for control of the country? Like I said, I had no idea Mexico was this bad, and that the cartels were quite this blatant, and don't presume to know the first thing about the situation in Brazil, but a criminal empire having the resources and presence to combat the government is a very different, and in many ways worse problem than a high murder rate.

[Big Orange]

While Mexico's murder rate is high, as I understand it it's not the constant anarchy that a lot of people seem to think it is. For example, Brazil actually has a somewhat higher murder rate than Mexico, and no one seems to think intervention is needed there.

The murder rate may be higher, but are Brazilian gangs actively battling the police and army in the streets for control of the country?

Not so long ago a Brazilian police chopper flying over a rough neighbourhood received enough small arms fire to make its fuel tank catch on fire, prompting an emergency crash landing...

[Broomstick]

We had that happen to the country police helicopter in my area in July - they flew over an area of Gary known for heavy gang activity and someone opened fire. Didn't hit the chopper in that case, but shooting at police is going to happen anywhere the bad guys have guns.

This month we had three sheriff's deputies arrested on Federal charges for supplying guns to the local gangs. Some of whom, I might add, do have ties to the Mexican cartels. If you were wondering where the cartels get their weapons, it's the US. None of it legal, of course, but these guys don't give a fuck about the law.

[darthdavid]

There's a simple solution to this problem. Legalization. The gangs make their money supplying illegal drugs to the United States. If drugs are legalized their income would dry up to almost nothing overnight.

[Broomstick]

One might have supposed that with the gangs that provided alcohol during Prohibition, but the mafia and organized crime still exist.

[Tasoth]

There's a simple solution to this problem. Legalization. The gangs make their money supplying illegal drugs to the United States. If drugs are legalized their income would dry up to almost nothing overnight.

Would it really have that effect? I would think that would just legitimize these cartels as businessmen without changing any of the behavior on the other side of the border.

[The Romulan Republic]

The more I read about the situation in Mexico, the more I think the US or the UN should send a large army of peacekeeping troops there.

1) The record of peacekeeping troops really fixing a problem like that is far from satisfactory.
2) Quite a few Mexicans are still angry about the last time the US invaded their country.
3) The US and its military is stretched quite thin right now.
4) The US has plenty of problems to deal with in its own borders and doesn't really want to deal with another nation's worth.

As for the immigration issue, or why aren't more Mexicans going north -
A) The US has cracked down on illegal border crossings so it's gotten much more difficult to sneak in.
B) Crossing in the weak spots and via hiding in vehicles has gotten a lot more dangerous - it's estimated hundreds die in the southwestern desert each year, thousands die in total crossing the border illegally, and tens of thousands over the past couple decades. Granted, that's a fraction of the hundreds of thousands/millions who have crossed successfully, but there's enough danger to discourage at least some people.
C) Smaller Mexican families (border crossing is mostly a young person's game)
D) Rising standard of living in Mexico - it's still low compared to the US, but better than it was thus giving less incentive to risk being an illegal immigrant.
E) Falling wages/fewer jobs in the US - a lot of the US underemployed are now taking the jobs that used to go to illegal aliens, plus the US has fewer jobs overall - also means less incentive to cross the border.

That's very interesting about the illegal immigration but I don't see that it changes the fact that something needs to be done about this shit and it seems the Mexican government isn't up to it on their own.

Your objections are obviously valid concerns, though. Situations like this don't tend to have quick, easy, or cost free solutions. But I still feel that something needs to be done to stop this.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

Legalization is still a good first step, ending Prohibition may not have ended the mafia, but it did remove a large source of income from them.

[Losonti Tokash]

It's almost like you can't solve a complex problem with a simple solution.

This news is awful. I've read a few of her things in the past and thought she was doing good work. Apparently she was. They don't know how the Zetas figured out her identity but it's likely she just trusted the wrong person or slipped up somewhere. Depressing.

[Broomstick]

That's very interesting about the illegal immigration but I don't see that it changes the fact that something needs to be done about this shit and it seems the Mexican government isn't up to it on their own.

Your objections are obviously valid concerns, though. Situations like this don't tend to have quick, easy, or cost free solutions. But I still feel that something needs to be done to stop this.

My urge is to "do something", too. Unfortunately, past history shows intervention can sometimes make thing worse, not better. How best to intervene is a difficult and complex question, made worse because an action performed by one nation can be interpreted completely differently than the exact same action performed by a different nation.

Legalization is still a good first step, ending Prohibition may not have ended the mafia, but it did remove a large source of income from them.

True. In some cases, the organized crime of Prohibition later invested in legitimate businesses. Organized crime as it is in the US actually has some interest in maintaining a certain level of order. A primary motive for them is money, arguably as much if not more so than power and actual political control.

Do the Mexican cartels want power and control over territory? Or just money? Are they involved just in drugs, or in other criminal activities? If drugs were legalized would they be content to be legitimate producers of a product, probably earning considerably less money doing it? Would they start to rely more on other activities?

That's why simply legalizing something like pot won't automatically solve the problem. It might certainly help, if it were legal to grow pot in the US the demand for Mexican weed, and the money and guns flowing southward, would drop. However, I don't think the Mexican drug cartels are supplying pot and cocaine from some sentimental "drugs are benign and should be legal and available to all" meme. I think they want money, and plenty of it. Drugs are just a means to an end. Drop the price of drugs and they'll look for something else that's high profit to sell, or perhaps move to different, highly profitable markets outside of North America. That might lessen the US involvement and make the "drug problem" in the US diminish, but it might result in little or no changes to conditions in Mexico.

[Darth Fanboy]

One might have supposed that with the gangs that provided alcohol during Prohibition, but the mafia and organized crime still exist.

And they are still making all of that money through bootlegging I assume?

[Broomstick]

Of course not. Back when bootlegging was profitable they branched out into such things as prostitution, gambling, and other sorts of crime which presumably still continue to yield a profit.

What else are the Mexican cartels involved in that might give them incentive to continue to function as cartels even after a hypothetical legalization of drugs? Does anyone seriously think these people would just go away?

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

Of course not. Back when bootlegging was profitable they branched out into such things as prostitution, gambling, and other sorts of crime which presumably still continue to yield a profit.

What else are the Mexican cartels involved in that might give them incentive to continue to function as cartels even after a hypothetical legalization of drugs? Does anyone seriously think these people would just go away?

Just go away? Not just from legalization, no. I don't know what a full solution to this problem is, but removing a large and obvious source of their money would be a good start, no? Starve the beast, as much as possible, anyway.

[SpaceMarine93]

Does anyone here have an effective suggestion on how to deal with this problem? My idea involves suspending Habeous Corpus temporarily.

[loomer]

Suspending the right of the people to be released from unlawful incarceration isn't going to fix the Cartel problem, retard.

Also, Mexico doesn't have habeas corpus, it has amparo de libertad.

[Zaune]

Does anyone here have an effective suggestion on how to deal with this problem? My idea involves suspending Habeous Corpus temporarily.

Any plan that involves suspending any part of people's civil rights never, ever ends well, even if it solves the immediate problem; once politicians convince themselves to do it for a good reason, they can convince themselves to do it for a bad one.