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Mexican Drug Gangs Send Gruesome Message To Internet Users

Mexican gangs left a gruesome message for users of social media. The gang left two dead bodies hanging from a bridge in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

The AFP reports on the message scrawled on two pieces of cardboard:

The messages lay near the two bodies, found half naked, alluding to websites set up for people to report drug violence in the area, police said.

"That will happen to all of them," read the text of one message signed with the letter 'Z' usually associated with the Zetas drug gang.

The Houston Chronicle reports that another message threatened the "the internet busybodies." The Chronicle adds that it was specifically directed at two websites: , which publishes gruesome accounts and video of drug war casualties and a Al Rojo Vivo, a forum set up by the Monterrey newspaper El Norte. The Chronicle adds a bit of context:

Many Mexican newspapers and broadcasters have self-censored under constant gangster siege. Reporters have been killed, newsrooms attacked. Government officials often prove less than forthcoming with timely and accurate information. Twitter, Facebook, blogs and text messaging all have filled the void, becoming primary news sources in scores of Mexican communities, even for family members in the U.S., as gangs battle cartel rivals and security forces.

...

A post on one of those blogs, Al Rojo Vivo, counseled readers on Wednesday, "Don't be afraid to inform ... It's very difficult that they know who is informing. They are only trying to frighten society." The blog is carried by the website of the Monterrey newspaper El Norte.

The Mexican newspaper Vanguardia reports that one bodies of a man in his 20s and the other of a woman in her 20s. "In plain sight, you could tell that before they were assassinated, both of them had be tortured," the paper reports.

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Eyder Peralta
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.