That kind of thinking gave us a lot of bad press. In response to this accusation (that the blog could be a means of the cartels’ publishing their violent acts) the creator of El Blog del Narcos told Vice Magazine: In this respect it is clear how El Blog del Narco can be seen as in fact assisting the cartels by spreading the territorializing messages and warnings of their crimes through online publication. Many have noticed the changing face of the cartels’ tactics in response to technological advancement and the rise in popularity of the internet as access to the Internet among Mexicans increased from 5 percent of the population in 2000 to 33 percent in 2010. Some have pointed to the ‘narcomessages’ left by the bodies of those murdered as clearly designed for the photograph or YouTube video which will then be shared around the country, therefore bypassing the control of traditional media.

Some of the videos posted by El Blog del Narco are completely horrifying, women and men being interrogated before being beheaded alive, dismembered and tortured by masked gunmen. The dangers faced by those trying to tell the public the truth about the violence and the killings show the importance of what the blog was doing – essentially the job of the newspapers and national media who have been cowed into silence. A few days later, another contributor was killed and computer equipment strewn over the body in a clear warning against the bloggers. In May 2013 The Guardian reported that ‘Lucy’, the creator of the blog, had fled Mexico after her blogging partner called one day, told her to ‘run’ and has not been heard of since. A young couple who contributed material to the blog in 2011 were subsequently tortured and murdered in the state of Tamaupilas with a sign left next to their bodies saying the bloggers would be next. The blog includes news bulletins on cartel violence, grisly details of the murders and information which other media outlets do not dare to print for fear of recrimination from the cartels. Last year the author of the blog revealed she was a woman, not a man as previously thought (or assumed) and that she writes the blog with her partner who has since disappeared in worrying circumstances.

El Blog del Narco~ Violence and Social MediaĮl Blog del Narco is an internet sensation in Mexico, a site which chronicles the gory violence of Mexico’s drug wars in which over 70,000 people have died.

El blog del narco com