narcoblogger has stepped into the breach left by Mexican journalists, who dare not report as they used to do. Thirty journalists have been killed in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon started his war on the drug cartels in 2006, making Mexico the most deadly country in Latin America for the media. Most are victims of the drug cartels, not caught in crossfire but targeted for reporting what is going on.
Last month, four reporters from the central Mexican state of Durango were kidnapped after reporting a prison riot, which followed the revelation that the prison governor was allowing inmates to go out at night and commit murders. The journalists were freed only after their TV station agreed to broadcast a video, produced by one of the drug cartels, which showed corrupt policemen who were apparently working for a rival cartel.
Today, attention has turned to Tamaulipas state where police have found 72 unburied bodies dumped on a ranch. They are presumably victims of the ever more vicious drug war, which in this part of Mexico pits Los Zetas against the Gulf Cartel. In recent weeks, the industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico’s wealthiest, has been almost brought to a standstill by cartel road blocks, kidnaps and gunbattles, following the murder of a local mayor. Police chiefs, political candidates and senior state officials are frequently targeted for assassination. The drug gangs are trying to seize the Mexican state, and closing down the media is just one part of their plan.
Sunday 10 October 2010
people in the car were Zetas cartel members; as the soldiers approached them, the gun battle began
Just a little over a week since the reported shooting death of American David Hartley on the waters of Falcon Lake, Mexican Soldiers searching the area discover a car in the brush. The Mexican National Defense Ministry said the soldiers were conducting patrols around the town of New Guerrero, Mexico, near the southern shore of Falcon Lake when they found a car with six people inside. According to officials, the people in the car were Zetas cartel members; as the soldiers approached them, the gun battle began. The Defence Ministry said all six of the alleged cartel members were killed and one soldier was wounded. The area is a well known territory of the Zetas Drug Cartel.
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