NARCOBLOGGER
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.
Showing posts with label Gunmen in the Mexican city of Tijuana have shot dead 13 people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gunmen in the Mexican city of Tijuana have shot dead 13 people. Show all posts

Monday, 25 October 2010

Gunmen in the Mexican city of Tijuana have shot dead 13 people at a drug rehabilitation centre

01:27    No comments
Gunmen in the Mexican city of Tijuana have shot dead 13 people at a drug rehabilitation centre, say police.

The attack appeared to be connected to the long-running violent conflict between drugs gangs in the the country, in which thousands have been killed.

On Saturday, 14 people, most of them teenagers, were shot dead at a party in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.


Last week, police in Tijuana destroyed 134 tonnes of cannabis - the largest drugs haul ever seized in the country.

The drugs, with an estimated street value of at least $340m (£214m), had been wrapped in 15,000 separate packages.

Police in Tijuana, just over the border from San Diego, California, said the latest killings happened when an armed gang burst into the Camino drug treatment centre in the city.

They lined the victims up and shot them with high-powered weapons, El Universal newspaper reported.

Drugs rehabilitation centres have been attacked by gunmen before - observers say the gangs accuse the clinics of protecting rival dealers.

Police also believe drug cartels use the clinics to recruit hitmen and smugglers, threatening to kill those who fail to co-operate.
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