Five decomposing heads have been found in a blood stained sack outside a primary school in Acapulco, Mexico in what appears to be the latest attack by notorious drug cartels. A handwritten banner next to the heads threatened the state governor and local drug lords.
Officials are unsure whether this latest development is linked to the extortion threats made against teachers by drug lords at the beginning of this month, which saw the temporarily closure of 140 schools. Gangs kidnapped at least four teachers and others were threatened with violence if they didn’t hand over half their salaries by 1 October.
Five decapitated bodies have been found in the area, but the corpses were too badly burnt to be formally identified with the heads, which were all thought to be male.
The gruesome discovery is the latest in the drug war raging between territorial cartels with the Mexican government coming under increasing criticism for failing to protect its terrified citizens. Some 10,000 teachers took to the street last week, setting up a road block on one of the main tourist roads in Acapulco, to demand protection and highlight their plight to the governor of the area, Angel Aguirre Rivero.
Spreading to previously unscathed parts of the country, the violence is escalating according to reports. Since 2006, an estimated 40,000 people have died in drug-related killings, a number that continues to rise. Attacks had formerly been focused in the areas around the US border. However 35 bodies were dumped on a main road during rush hour in the southern town of Veracruz earlier this month. The half naked corpses showed signs of torture, but the 23 men and 12 women were thought to have suffocated to death.
"What we are seeing in Mexico is typical of a process of paramilitarisation in which different groups seek to wipe territories clean of their rivals," Edgardo Buscaglia, an expert in organised crime, told MVS Radio. "The groups are fighting over 22 different illegal markets, not just drugs, and that produces … an orgy of violence."
Social media is playing an unprecedented role in the brutality, motivating people against the cartels while also providing a vehicle for the violence.
Newspapers and TV stations have been targeted as well as individual journalists, and the scared population have gone online. Turning to sites like Al Rojo Vivo and Blog del Narco to report drug related violence, Mexicans citizens have also been using Twitter and Facebook. Ahead of the Veracruz body dump, people were tweeting “Avoid Plaza Las Américas” to warn their followers of the masked gunmen.
Andrés Monroy-Hernández, a doctoral candidate from Mexico at the MIT Media Lab told the New York Times: “Social media is filling the gap left by the press. In different regions of Mexico, both the state and the press are weak, while organised crime is becoming stronger and, in some places, replacing the state.”
However the cartels have caught onto the trend. A journalist who used social networking sites to report on the gangs was found dismembered, her head thrown inside a plant pot with a computer, mouse, cables, headphones and speakers.The accompanying message read:
"OK Nuevo Laredo en Vivo [a site used to report crimes] and social media sites. I am Nena de Laredo and I'm here because of my [online] reports and yours ... For those who don't believe this happened to me because of my actions, for trusting in the Army and Marines."
Two hacked bodies were spotted swinging from a bridge by motorists, with the sign: "This is going to happen to all those posting funny things on the internet, You better [expletive] pay attention. I’m about to get you."
The message was signed 'Z', in a twisted reworking of the fictional Zorro's signature, which was attributed to Los Zetos, a drug gang based near the border. Their main rivals are thought to be the equally vicious Sinaloa cartel. Meanwhile the cartels have taken to tweeting and text messages themselves to spread terror.
An extorted teacher told Fox News Latino:
"They're constantly sending us text messages demanding half our salaries as protection money," a teacher who has been working in that profession for 30 years said. Similarly a cartel member posted online "The largest scheduled shootout in the history of Reynosa will be tomorrow or Sunday" spreading fear throughout the city.
The Mexican government is drafting a bill that censors the use of social networking sites for messages that contribute to the collapse of public order. However Mexicans feel that this harms their freedom to warn others away from areas that are being targeted by violence. An open letter to the government by a Facebook group called Mexico New Revolution requests permission to take online action when they know of violent activities:
"This group was born as a link of communication among Mexicans due to lack of information by the media about the current violence and the fighting against organised crime that is happening in our country.
We cannot sit idly by doing nothing listening to these pleas from our countrymen who have the misfortune of being innocent victims of this war. Due to the gravity of the situation we ask to intervene as soon as possible on behalf of those who are suffering and to avoid further tragic events."