network:
Social media retribution killings in Mexico
Alarming reports have surfaced of a gruesome double murder in Mexico that saw a man and a woman mutilated, disembowelled and left to hang from a bridge in the town of Laredo in apparent retribution for their activities on social media platforms denouncing the activities of drug cartels operating in the region.
Handwritten posters left near the bodies carried the warning, “This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the internet”
The victims were left hanging for 35 hours before they were discovered, and as yet remain unidentified. The style of the killings is in-keeping with other narcotics related violence, although the local public prosecutor’s office admits it will be a “nearly impossible task” to identify those responsible.
It was nearly a year ago today that Vicente Fox, former President of Mexico, called upon the Latin American media industry to support his calls for the decriminalisation of drugs in Mexico. During his speech at the Festival of Media Latam in October 2010, Fox cited the 28,000 lives that had been lost so far in the Mexican drugs gang war, which had achieved little in curbing the power of the cartels. Fox reasons that decriminalisation will disrupt the illegal narcotics market.
It’s a bold move, but perhaps bold moves are required in a situation that has reached a bloody stalemate.
Part of Fox's presentation from Festival of Media Latam 2010 can be seen here:
Comments