Where the Mexican media is failing to report on drug related crime a new blog is filling the gap. Not for the fainthearted, ,
The corpses lie twisted at the foot of a shrine. Their bodies slashed with a Z, Zeta the name of the drug cartel they once belonged to. Part of a leg is hanging from fairy lights draped along the roof. A statue of Jesus looks straight ahead, a cluster of heads at its feet. Welcome to Blog del Narco where photos of headless corpses is standard.
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Created by a group of anonymous bloggers because, "the Mexican media feels threatened and the government apparently bought off," the blog, "lets people know what is happening." And a lot is going on. Relying on the public for its information, Blog del Narco provides almost daily updates of drug related news from around the country.
The most frequent headlines tell of shoot-outs between drug gangs and the police or between drug gangs and each other. There is photo after photo of bullet-ridden 4 x 4s and there is the dead; bodies splayed on backseats and slumped over steering wheels. There are also the videos; messages from one rival drug gang to another.
In April this year Z-43, a man working for the Zeta drug cartel, was found assassinated, eyes blindfolded, his arms tied behind his back. His movements prior to death can be seen in a video courtesy of Blog del Narco. It makes grim watching. A man off camera threatens him with a gun as he answers questions, a light shining in his face, eyes blindfolded, arms tied behind his back. And Blog del Narco doesn't stop at interrogations other videos have shown assassinations and torture.
Nobody knows who sends in the videos or who the interrogators are but Blog del Narco puts its name to each one. "We provide the information" and "closer than you think", are examples of some of the videos' opening credits.
Perhaps telling of the current climate of fear in Mexico, the blog gives not just news but also advice on how to report a crime anonymously. As well as contact numbers citizens are told how to inform authorities using untraceable calls and how to set up a false e-mail account. The blog features a rolling Twitter feed where concerned citizens tweet about shootings in their area. And there is a forum and chat where people can report shootings or warn of future attacks.
Yet amid the fear there is something more unsettling. A photo on the blog's tribute page shows six guns and a note left by a fan of the blog "For Blog del Narco with regards," it states. People writing on Twitter joke about future attacks and are flippant about ones that have just happened. "Hi to everyone from Reynosa where right now a shooting is taking place," tweets one. And while reading the blog you can listen, somewhat surreally, to corridos, a type of music favoured by drug traffickers.
Blog del Narco is more than just news it is an insight into Mexican life. A life, which for some at least, drug related crime and violence has become part of the everyday.
http://www.blogdelnarco.com/
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