"Far from calming people, it just makes them more panicked." "We've seen infiltration by criminal groups who use social media to spread rumors that can create mass psychosis," says a veteran journalist in Matamoros, who asked not to be named. Twitter followers of #nuevolaredo will ask: Does anybody know what the boom heard downtown was - a harmless firecracker or a hand grenade?īut, increasingly, experience tells Mexicans to be cautious about the information they get on social networks. Some networks do provide timely information for nervous citizens. This is not to say that all social media in Mexico have been co-opted by drug traffickers. "Some traffickers have been tortured on film and they recite a lot of useful information - information about command and control, information about sponsorship of killings the list is endless," says a representative for Grupo Savant, a private security firm in the Washington, D.C., area with knowledge of organized crime activities in Mexico. On another level, Blog del Narco and copycat websites have become required watching for intelligence gatherers who want to know what the cartels are up to. You can log on, and see photos of severed heads and disfigured bodies next to ads for GM Truck Month, Geico Auto Insurance, Volvo, AT&T and Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner. In the routine barbarity that defines the Mexican mafia wars, they use images of murder, torture and even beheadings to intimidate foes and brag of their exploits.īlog del Narco, like the popular Mexican tabloids, has learned that savagery sells. "In Blog del Narco are amplifying the public relations efforts the cartels had already started," says Rosental Alves, a journalism professor at the University of Texas, Austin, who follows new media in Latin America. And yet they want a forum to post their own propaganda, or have sympathizers do it on their behalf. They want to censor the negative things that people say about them on this and other blogs. The site features grisly photos and videos of cartel mayhem around the country. Blog del Narco accepts posts from ordinary citizens, police agencies and, increasingly, the narcos themselves. The other is Blog del Narco, a notorious website run by an anonymous webmaster and open to anyone. The message seems to indicate that a drug cartel is upset that its activities are being posted on websites - two in particular.įrontera Al Rojo Vivo - loosely translated as The Raw Border - is a blog run by the Monterrey newspaper El Norte for use by border residents to exchange information.
LO MAS RECIENTE DEL BLOG DEL NARCO TV
Because up until now it has only been traditional media - print, TV and radio. It suggests that the blogosphere has been included in the media landscape that the cartels are looking at. Because up until now it has only been traditional media - print, TV and radio," says Javier Garza, the editor of El Siglo de Torreon, a newspaper in the neighboring Coahuila state, which is also aflame with cartel violence. "It suggests that the blogosphere has been included in the media landscape that the cartels are looking at. Many Mexicans have had to rely on social media to find out what's going on in their cities after newspapers, TV and radio stations stopped reporting on drug-related violence.īut last week, the mangled bodies of a young man and woman were hung from a highway bridge in Nuevo Laredo along with a sign that read: "This is what happens to people who post funny things on the Internet. Now they seem to be extending the practice to social media. In areas where they are powerful, the Mexican drug cartels silenced the mainstream media by threatening and killing journalists. Drug cartels, which have been responsible for many of the deaths, are now intimidating social media sites. Mexican journalists march in a protest against violence directed against the media on Sept.
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