Mexican Drug War Spreading to the Web

From Fox News Latino - By Patrick Manning - The Mexican drug war that has taken thousands of lives over the past four years isn’t just on the other side of the border. It’s now online. Cartels are using Facebook and Twitter to find out information on potential victims and to track them down. “They use them as intelligence sources, I suppose, to gather information on people,”said Dr. Tony Payan, associate professor of political science at the University of Texas-El Paso. Payan told Fox News Latino they’re also posting violent videos of victims being tortured YouTube to threaten and intimidate their enemies. “They are saying: ‘Look you guys, you contrary team, competitors, you enemy, this is what’s going to happen to you,’” he said. Plus, the use of Twitter also allows the cartels to send messages quickly. “You don’t have to make a bunch of phone calls, you don’t have to take the time to communicate to everybody,” Payan said. He added they use secret phrases about where to meet other cartel members or to inform them about the status of an operation. Before, cartels worked quietly. “I think this is a new generation of drug traffickers, new generation of criminals, and they often like to post what they do on the Internet,” Payan said. “They used to be quite discrete and quite restrained. In fact, they went out of their way not to draw attention to themselves.” Now, the tables have turned. Read more