The decapitated body of a man was left on Wednesday at the same monument in the border city of Nuevo Laredo where the corpse of a woman purportedly killed in retaliation for her postings on an anti-crime Web site had been left previously, authorities said.
A photograph of the scene indicates the man was killed for reporting criminals on social media sites, raising fears that drug cartels are increasingly targeting netizens.
Police found the body at a monument on one of the city’s main thoroughfares, said a Tamaulipas state investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to discuss the case.
The officer would not discuss the content of the message, but a photograph of the scene posted on a blog shows a handcuffed man lying on his belly on top of a bloodstained message and a chopped-off head nearby.
The message reads: “This happened to me for not understanding that I shouldn’t report things on the social networks.”
The message claimed the man, identified by his nickname “Rascatripas,” which translates as Belly Scratcher, was a moderator of Nuevo Laredo en Vivo, a Web site used by the city’s residents to denounce crime and warn each other about drug cartel gunfights and roadblocks.
The gruesome killing could be the fourth since September in which people in Nuevo Laredo were killed by a drug cartel for what they said on the Internet.
The decapitated body of Maria Elizabeth Macias, “La Nena de Laredo,” or Laredo Girl, was found at the site in September with a message that said she was killed for her reports on the Web site. That message was signed with the letter Z, which refers to the violent Zetas drug cartel.
Earlier that month, the bodies of a man and a woman were found hanging from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo with a message threatening that “this is what will happen” to troublemaking Internet users and also signed with a Z.
The Zetas have dominated Nuevo Laredo, located across the US border from Laredo, Texas, for years.
Nuevo Laredo en Vivo has a message acknowledging Macias was a contributor and lauding her courage.
Chat messages on the Web site show that a user, “Rascatripas,” commented on Monday afternoon about the dangers of traveling on a riverside highway that connects Nuevo Laredo to Ciudad Mier.
Whether the unidentified man found on Wednesday at a monument to Christopher Columbus contributed to the Web site is unclear.
“We have no way of confirming whether he is the person who was killed because we’re all anonymous,” a Tweet by “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo” said.
With local newspapers forced to avoid crime reporting by threats in many border cities, Mexicans have increasingly turned to online sites like Nuevo Laredo en Vivo to report and read about cartel activity. The site includes numbers to phone in tips to police and the military.
“We’re seeing that the war in Mexico … it’s not only about gaining control of the streets, but also controlling information,” said Carlos Lauria, the Americas senior program coordinator for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. “This is no longer a problem that affects just one group, for example journalists, but it affects anyone who informs ... This is putting Mexico’s democracy at risk.”
Users of Nuevo Laredo en Vivo vowed to continue reporting criminals to authorities.
“Those guys think they are so smart. They want to spread fear,” a user identified as “Anon5218” wrote on Wednesday night. “As long as no one confirms Rasca was an honest citizen, let’s leave it as a doubt and continue on.”
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