Bodies hanging from bridge in Mexico are warning to social media users

[nadinbrzezinski]

September 14, 2011 3:23 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Two bodies dangling from a pedestrian bridge in the border town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, created an image as gruesome as any in the four years of the country's offensive against the drug cartels.

A man and a woman, both in their early 20s, were left hanging like cuts of meat. The woman was hogtied and disemboweled, her intestines protruding from three deep cuts on her abdomen. She was then hung from the bridge by her feet and hands, topless. The bloodied man was suspended next to her by his hands, his right shoulder severed so deeply you can see the bone.

Two posters left near the bodies declared that the pair -- a young man and woman -- were killed for posting denouncements of drug cartel activities on a social network.

Bloggers who specialize in sharing news about trafficking have been threatened in the past, but this could be the first time that users of such social networks have been targeted.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/09/14/mexico.violence/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Comment http://nadinbrzezinski.posterous.com/warning-to-social-media-users-war-on-drugs-an

[malaise]

1. Good fugging grief

:puke:

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. +1000

[myrna minx]

2. How horrifying - I'm speechless. n/t

[my2sense]

3. Damn - One more reason to stay out of Mexico n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. One more reason to stop buying drugs on the street that originated from Mexico.

It's like feeding the puppy mills.

[LoZoccolo]

16. There was a campaign for this, but it's not been seen for a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdlIPAB1blA

[11 Bravo]

17. Buy American?

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. Something like that.

would be interesting, don't you think? Do you suppose the cartel would bring the war to us if the US began to take control of the grow fields?

I feel so sad that they could do that to their own people.

[russspeakeasy]

25. That makes an even million.

:evilgrin:

[MineralMan]

4. Nasty. Drug traffickers are ugly people.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. What will it take to stop these people? I too am horrified.

[izquierdista]

19. Mussolini

A more brutal thug. Besides making the trains run on time, he pretty much had the Mafia cleaned up in Southern Italy. Or driven so far underground, the only place they were safe was in New York City.

Civilization means ceding to the state that it is the only legitimate source of violence. Once the state has the undisputed monopoly on violence, only then can people agree to make the state (and the entire society) less violent by eliminating the death penalty, outlawing cruel and unusual punishments, etc.

As corrupt as the different police are in Mexico, the only way for the government to get the upper hand is to make police work more lucrative than drug work (or collaboration). When the chief of police has the nicest villa in town because he buried the drug lord that owned it, then things may change. As it is now, most rank and file police are on the lookout for their daily $40 bribe so they can support their family.

If the police were put in the business of stealing all the drugs from the cartel and then giving them away to registered users for free (if the user is enrolled in a treatment program to wean him off), the cartels' business model would be ruined and they would collapse.

[duhneece]

36. Ending the War on Drugs would decrease violence, based on the history of alcohol prohibition

AND studies of countries that treat addiction from a health perspective instead of just from a legal perspective.

Ending the war on drugs would also reduce the systemic racism which is another reason to end the war on drugs...there are just so many.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

40. Yes, I agree completely...nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

47. disagree

So much has been invested in setting up supply lines that repealing prohibition will only make competition for the US market more intense, and bloodier.

[RKP5637]

6. Gross, absolutely gross. n/t

[hlthe2b]

8. Damn... I don't know what the ultimate answer is to these cartels

but I think it is time for Mexico (or someone) to"go all in" to break them up and stop them. Maybe they should import the Russian mob and let the two fight it out? (kidding, but only a little bit) :shrug:

[Auntie Bush]

12. Would making drugs legal stop this horrifying behavior?

On the other hand...if Americans would stop using drugs...they'd go out of business or kill each other to get the limited customers? :shrug:

[hlthe2b]

13. I wonder about this too...

Of course the criminal element, if not broken up in some major way, would likely just go to human trafficking or something else equally horrific. :shrug:

[Harry J Asslinger]

27. They are already engaged in myriad forms of criminal enterprise.

And the immense and easy profit from drugs gives them the wherewithal to continually expand and thoroughly corrupt law enforcement and governments.

[Uncle Joe]

29. At least in the case of human trafficking, government would have the moral high ground.

By turning what should be an educational, personal privacy, and or medical issue into a criminal one, and coupling that with criminalizing the people for profit, the moral high ground simply doesn't exist in the "War on Drugs."

While legalizing most drugs wouldn't totally break up these cartels, it would severely hamper their finances, and eliminate or reduce their monopoly on something tens of millions of people want, that being recreational drugs, this in turn would reduce organized crime's ability to corrupt the police and government.

[duhneece]

37. Uncle J, I love the way you think...and write

This has become my most important 'cause' for the past few years...never forgetting that ending the WARS is still such a huge priority.

[Uncle Joe]

41. Thank you, duhneece.

Peace to you and keep up the good fight.:hi:

[Blue_Tires]

20. As I understand it,

the Mexican gov't is too centralized, slow, bureaucratic and corrupt to properly deal with the issue...

I think the unspoken implication is also "It's on the border, the USA is supplying the weapons and the market for the drugs -- It's YOUR problem!"

[Blue_Tires]

9. At this rate there won't be any civilians left alive in the region

The cartels may just form their own unofficial 'nation' if they haven't already...

Seriously, just HOW does one human do this to another? How black can one's heart get? What punishment could ever give a proper measure of justice?

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. See my blog

http://nadinbrzezinski.posterous.com/warning-to-social-media-users-war-on-drugs-an

For commentary.

But you are onto something. My opinion is not wanted so it's now off site.

[Obamanaut]

32. Personal blog self-promotion is one thing, but why the suggestion that

you are being censored?

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Here only nooz and horseys

That's it.

[Obamanaut]

42. Poor, picked on you. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Actually it ain't you, so don't even try to feel that special.

[RZM]

11. What's the path out of this situation I wonder?

And perhaps a better question is whether or not there is one. I'm sure there are elements within the government that want to take the gloves all the way off until it's under control. But I wonder if you can even effectively fight these guys given the degree of penetration they have in Mexican civil society. It's really sad.

[toddwv]

15. Legalize most drugs.

Take the profit away from drug smuggling. Localize the profit. Tax it but keep the taxes low.

The violence is perpetuated by making drug distribution and use illegal. It raises the street price and value and makes the illegal drug business a VERY profitable venture and violence is used to make sure that business is good...

[RZM]

24. Ok sure. That's obvious and I believe it's been floated in Mexico quite a bit

But they'd still be fighting over the routes north. I'm fine with us legalizing drugs, but I don't see it happening in the near future. So let's say Mexico legalized everything and we didn't. What then? I fear that the cartels are so entrenched that cutting into the profits that way would mean they just found other illegal income streams to make up for it.

[toddwv]

28. What northern routes? Marijuana grows here.

It grows pretty much everywhere.
Poppy plants can be grown here.

[RZM]

31. I was talking about Mexican laws and legalizing drugs there

Sure you can grow all sorts of things here, but I don't think legalizing much of anything is really in the cards for the US right now, thus my comment about smuggling routes. Possibly weed will be decriminalized sometime in the future, though that's far from certain. As long as the shit is illegal here you're going to see fighting over the right to move it here. So what do they do while they wait for us to legalize everything. They'll be waiting a long time, so they need a plan to deal with the situation now. So what do they do? I haven't the slightest idea, BTW. That's why I asked the question.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. Google fox and legalization

For the reason why go read my blog.

I can't really post here fully free anymore.

In fact might add that THERE!

[valerief]

34. But that would take $$$ from the drug kingpins. And they own Congress. nt

[Blue_Tires]

38. Don't forget some of the CIA's little "side ventures"

They have a stake in this as well...

[valerief]

44. Yeah, the CIA is part of the govt. nt

[hifiguy]

26. Correct. The criminal element will move on to other

enterprises but there is nothing they could do that could be anywhere near as profitable, or as in-demand, as supplying smoke and coke. The end of Prohibition dealt the Mob a considerable setback here in the 1930s and it has never been what it was during the Roaring Twenties.

[duhneece]

39. LEAP has incredible info, incredible resources

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, link and from their site:

Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs.

Although those who speak publicly for LEAP are people from the law enforcement and criminal justice communities, a large number of our supporting members do not have such experience. You don’t have to have law enforcement experience to join us.

By continuing to fight the so-called “War on Drugs,” the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical, and more effective public policy.

Please consider joining us and helping us to achieve our goals: 1) to educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current policies, and 2) to restore the public’s respect for police, which has been greatly diminished by law enforcement’s involvement in enforcing drug prohibition.
http://www.leap.cc/

They provided us with bureau speakers for two years in a row for our booth at our county fair. We had their "Cops say legal drugs Ask us Why" T-shirts and brochures from LEAP, Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative, Drug Policy Alliance, etc. The first speaker they sent us was a retired Deputy Police chief, Vietnam Vet, and a Buddhist with a Buddhist center...he helped us get centered, remain calm...amazing experience. This, our third year, we had the least amount of people screaming at us.

[Uncle Joe]

18. Two more victims

of the counterproductive, dysfunctional and insane so called "War on Drugs.":(

There is no winning or upside to such a foolish and misguided policy; which only serves to alienate or criminalize the people from government while empowering and enriching organized crime.

Thanks for the thread, nadinbrzezinski.

[Bryn]

22. Anyone remember Veronica Guerin?

Veronica Guerin was an Irish crime reporter who was murdered on 26 June 1996 by drug lords.

In Ireland! Imagine that!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Guerin

[Harry J Asslinger]

23. So long as Prohibtion is in place...

Products that are absurdly cheap and easy to make will be many times their worth, making for a grossly lucrative market. No amount of initiatives, or money thrown at the War On Drugs will "end" this.

[Octafish]

30. Two poor souls ''got in the way'' of somebody's money.

In addition to swelling the numbers of the nouveau riche, Prohibition has criminalized the disease of addiction.

[cascadiance]

45. Watch these two episodes of Fault Lines to see how ugly the drug war has become...

... and how the locals in different areas of Mexico can't even count on the national authorities to help them get rid of the drug cartel's violence, since they are being bought off, etc. This is the kind of news that our media just doesn't cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rc72FZYlCM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-4ALKGBbOE

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. + Brazillion