When asked about the current security situation under President Enrique Pena Nieto, she divulged that she could not yet form an opinion given that his six-year term in office (sexenio) just began in December. As well, by providing access to stories not covered in mainstream media, she warns visitors outside of the violent regions of the dangers that exist there, namely the presence of cartels. Despite this reality, she told Al Jazeera that if her blog did not exist, she believes there would be no one to vouch for the tens of thousands of lives lost during the ‘war on drugs’ in Mexico. “The warnings were at any time of the day, at any hour, and they would tell me, ‘Move from where you are because they have found the zone.’ They would tell me, ‘Take what you can and leave.’” The blogger admits that she lives her life in fear, unable to go out and live her normal life. “We had a person working inside of the federal government in intelligence that would notify us when the narcos were close to us,” she said. The anonymous writer behind Blog del Narco talked during the interview about the challenges and risks she has undergone in the pursuit of transparency. NYTelemundo reports that the blog’s Twitter base has a following of 130,000 users and enjoys website traffic of approximately three million visitors per week. The blog invites readers to send in any information that would be of interest to the public from their respective regions to collectively build transparency in Mexico, inform its followers of the security situation in Mexico, and to protect journalists who cannot report so openly on such topics out of fear of retaliation from organized crime groups. And I love Mexico.”īlog del Narco, which began under the Calderón administration (2006-2012) on March 2, 2010, serves to provide uncensored and at times graphic information to the public, exposing drug cartel violence that is often not covered by mainstream media nor included in government reports. I’m a woman, I’m single, I have no children. Although the true identity of the blogger remains concealed, when asked who she is, she replied, “I’m in my mid-20s, I live in northern Mexico, I’m a journalist. She spoke under the condition of anonymity in a joint interview with The Guardian and The Texas Observer, as well as in a follow-up interview with Al Jazeera English, which aired its interview on its popular television segment known as ‘The Stream.’ (To listen to Blog del Narco’s interview with Al Jazeera’s ‘The Stream,’ click here).
Until Tuesday, the country recorded 2,439 cases of COVID-19 and 125 deaths.Cover of the book: “Dying for the Truth: Undercover Inside the Mexican Drug War by the Fugitive Reporters of Blog del Narco.” Photo: Yahoo News.Ġ4/11/13 – (by gomeznathalie) The writer behind the popular uncensored Blog del Narco in Mexico has recently surfaced for the first time, speaking on the challenges and threats she has faced since beginning the blog more than three years ago. The Mexican economy has been hit hard by the pandemic. It is considered the oldest criminal organization in Mexico. The Gulf Cartel started as a smuggling group that shipped alcohol to the United States during the prohibition period in the 1930s. Authorities said they don’t know what started the gunfire, but the current theory is that it was a robbery gone wrong. On the same day photos emerged showing alleged organized crime members distributing food to the poor, Gulf Cartel gunmen allegedly killed seven people in a beer warehouse. According to the pictures, the boxes contain some basic goods like oil, breakfast cereal and canned products.Įl Blog del Narco said that people were told the labels were put on the boxes to remind that the aid did not come from the government.įood was also shared in the city of Acahuato, where competing criminal organizations are operating. Pictures of boxes with labels saying “Cartel del Golfo in support of Ciudad Victoria." appeared on social media.
(Photo: Wikipedia)The so-called Gulf Cartel, that operates in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas and Los Viagras in the western state of Michoacan, allegedly delivered food to at least 200 poor families, El Blog del Narco reported.
Alleged members of a Mexican narco cartel are delivering groceries to low-income families to help them overcome the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, a blog covering narco cartels in Mexico reported on Sunday.Īlleged members of Mexican Gulf Cartel started to give out food.