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February 12, 2007 8:10 AM PST
Mexican drug wars find new battleground on YouTube
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One popular video on the site shows a man being shot in the head. A stomach-churning series of photos shows another execution victim, his missing face a mangled mess of flesh.
More than 2,000 people died last year in a war between the Gulf Cartel from northeastern Mexico and traffickers based in the western state of Sinaloa. President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of troops to several chaotic states to take on the drug gangs, who have decapitated police and killed soldiers.
The gangs, or their supporters, are now slugging it out online.
One chilling video on YouTube called "The Hit Men" shows a handcuffed man, apparently a Gulf Cartel henchman caught and beaten by police. He is curled on the ground and pleading with his captors. "They're going to kill me," he says.
Beneath the images, YouTube members boast in Spanish about the powers of rival capos Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa-based gang, and arch-foe Osiel Cardenas, the Gulf Cartel's leader, recently extradited to the United States.
Several slideshows are backed by the pumping bass and blaring horns of a famous 'narco corrido' ballad called "To My Enemies," widely seen as a musical attack on the Gulf Cartel's private army, The Zetas.
The singer Valentin Elizalde was shot dead last year after reportedly performing the song at a concert in Gulf Cartel territory.
In one YouTube post, a user offers about $4,500 to anyone who can show proof of having killed members of The Zetas, "via photo, video or presenting the body."
A spokesman for Mexico's attorney general's office said on Monday that some of the people who abuse each other on YouTube seem to have insider knowledge of the drug gangs.
"The messages give the impression that members of organized crime are participating," Jose Luis Manjarrez said. "We can't rule out, but neither can we be totally sure, that this is being used as a form of communication by organized crime."
He said Mexican police are monitoring the pages.
A spokesperson for YouTube, which is owned by Internet search company Google, said the firm "does not allow videos showing dangerous or illegal acts."
However, videos on the site include the footage of a man being shot in the head in a murder attributed to The Zetas. It has been viewed more than 280,000 times.
The YouTube spokesperson said it was up to users to flag footage as inappropriate, and that all content so marked was then reviewed by the company and could be removed.
Despite Calderon's military clampdown, drug war killings have continued more or less unabated this year.
Last week, a group of men dressed as soldiers shot seven people dead in two brazen daylight attacks on police stations in the Pacific resort of Acapulco. The group was accompanied by two men who filmed the attacks, although the footage does not appear to have been posted on YouTube.
Story Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
We will be fighting in Mexico to rid the new American Union of the drug gangs. All for peace people.You will have less freedoms but you will be safe.
Something does need to be done about the drug cartels but make sure your leaders do not apply new rules that only restrict your freedoms and does nothing to stop the enemy.
Secondly, we need a fence and a secure border with Mexico. Before we pump water out of the basement, we have to stop the leak. Seal up the border - both to stop the flood of illegal immigrants and to stop drugs flowing into the country. If you go to the border towns, there are giant meth 400m across the border. Why do you think they are located that close to the border? Meanwhile, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are getting their teeth knocked out in prison for shooting some dirt bag drug runner in the a$$. What happened to W riding around on the border in the blue work shirt last year? Some guy in a van with drugs and a weapon just crossed the border in the desert - how do we know that he wasn't a terrorist with a nuke? I thought these guys were our first line of defense?
Proverbs 14:12 12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Regulate all chemicals like ethanol.
During some years, FDA approved drugs, like Vioxx, have killed more humans and have ruined more families than all of the recreational drugs, including alcohol, combined!
Our Big Brother ("we need to protect you from yourself") government in action. Calling black white and white black.
http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles/200702/20070209_Cops_Prohibition_Drugs.htm
Many police officers are asking the question: if prohibition didn't work for alcohol, why are we in denial about it working for other things? LEAP is a major initiative now, and gaining steam.
Check out www.leap.cc for more info.
Dave