Tortured, disemboweled and hung from a bridge for tweeting: Couple killed by Mexican drug cartel as gruesome warning to bloggers who 'snitch' online

By Jessica Satherley

Last updated at 12:56 PM on 16th September 2011

A couple have been found hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo after being disembowelled and mutilated by attackers.

The motive for the gruesome attack was to warn social media users not to criticise Mexican drug cartels on the internet.

Next to the battered bodies was a sign reading: ‘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.’

Enlarge  

Brutal: The disemboweled corpses of a man (right) and a woman hang from a pedestrian bridge in Nuevo Laredo after they were murdered by a drugs cartel.

The woman, thought to be in her 20s, was tied to the bridge from her feet and hands as her body dangled topless with her innards protruding.

The man’s body, also believed to be in his early 20s, was hanging from just his hands.

 

Online blogging about violence in Mexico is currently one of the loudest ways it is reported, after some traditional media outlets have been silenced by cartel threats.

Bloggers who release information about trafficking have faced threats in the past, but this might be the first warning to social network users, CNN reported.

This sign was left on the bridge, translated from Spanish: 'This is going to happen to all those posting funny things on the internet'

Investigator Ricardo Mancillas Castillo told CNN that this form of torture, including disembowelment, has been seen before in drug-related violence but he has not encountered it before with internet threats.
The investigator said the victims will be almost impossible to identify because of the severe mutilation and there were no witnesses.

The bodies were found on Tuesday morning, which is thought to be 36 hours after they were killed.

It will also be impossible to find out whether the victims actually posted anything online about the cartels too, he said.

The two blogs that the attackers signalled out as a warning to internet users were Al Rojo Vivo and Blog del Narco.

Blog del Narco (pictured) is a site that only posts news in relation to Mexican drug violence

While Al Rojo Vivo (pictured) is a forum where bloggers can make anonymous tips about crime

Blog del Narco is a site that only posts news in relation to Mexican drug violence.

The site made a statement to CNN, saying that Blog del Narco is not dedicated to criticising crime and added: ‘We are not in favour or against any criminal group, we only inform as things happen.’

While Al Rojo Vivo is a forum where bloggers can make anonymous tips about crime.

Over the last five years more than 34,000 people have died in drug-related violence in the country.

 

Sphere: Related Content