Marisol Macías Castañeda, who worked at local newspaper, had made posts on Nuevo Laredo en Vivo social network
Mexican police are investigating whether the death of a woman found decapitated at the Texan border is the third killing made in retribution for posts about drug cartels on social networking websites.
The woman, identified by local officials as Marisol Macías Castañeda, a newsroom manager for the Primera Hora newspaper, was found in Nuevo Laredo next to a handwritten note claiming she was murdered for posts about the Zetas cartel, which is believed to dominate the area's drug trade to Laredo, Texas.
Macías Castañeda held an administrative post at Primera Hora, not a reporting job, according to a colleague who wished to remain anonymous. But it was apparently what she posted on the social networking site Nuevo Laredo en Vivo (Nuevo Laredo Live), rather than her role at the newspaper, that prompted her murder.
The site prominently features tip hotlines for the Mexican army, navy and police, and includes a section for reporting the location of drug gang lookouts and drug sales points – possibly the information that angered the cartel.
The message found next to her body on the side of a main road referred to the nickname Macías Castañeda purportedly used on the site, La Nena de Laredo (Laredo Girl). Her head was found placed on a large stone piling nearby.
"Nuevo Laredo en Vivo and social networking sites, I'm The Laredo Girl, and I'm here because of my reports, and yours," the message read. "For those who don't want to believe, this happened to me because of my actions, for believing in the army and the navy. Thank you for your attention, respectfully, Laredo Girl...ZZZZ."
The letter Z refers to the Zetas drug cartel, a gang founded by military deserters who have become known for mass killings and gruesome executions. It was unclear how the killers found out Macías Castañeda's real identity.
By late Saturday, Nuevo Laredo en Vivo's chatroom was full of posters who said they knew the victim, and railing against the Zetas. They described her as a frequent poster who used a laptop or mobile phone to send reports.
"Girl why didn't she buy a gun given that she was posting reports about the RatZZZ … Why didn't she buy a gun?" wrote one chat participant under the nickname Gol.
This month a man and a woman were found hanging from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo with a similar message threatening internet posters. However, it has not been clearly established whether the two had in fact ever posted any messages, or on what sites.
Residents of Mexican border cities often post under nicknames to report drug gang violence, because the posts allow a certain degree of anonymity.
Chatrooms, blogs, and networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are often the only outlet for residents of violent cities to find out what areas to avoid because of ongoing drug cartel shootouts or attacks. Local media outlets, whose journalists have been hit by killings, kidnappings and threats, are often too intimidated to report the violence.
Mexico's human rights commission says eight journalists have been killed in the country this year, and 74 since 2000. Other press groups cite lower numbers, and figures differ based on the definition of who is a journalist and whether the killings appeared to involve their professional work.
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