First it was child-pornography sites. Now the hacker collective known as Anonymous is going after a Mexican drug cartel.
The Zetas are one of the biggest players in Mexico’s drug war, which has resulted in about 40,000 deaths since 2006. Earlier this month, a YouTube video showed a man in a Guy Fawkes mask who claimed to speak for Anonymous warning the Zetas that the collective would reveal the names of people who had aided the cartel, including taxi drivers, police officers and journalists, if a kidnapped member of Anonymous weren’t released.
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BBC News reports that local authorities weren’t able to authenticate the video, in which the claim was made that “we cannot defend ourselves with weapons, but we can with their cars, houses and bars” and that exposing Zetas is “not difficult … we know who they are and where they are.”
If the message is real, it means Anonymous is playing with fire. In September, the narcogang decapitated 39-year-old Marisol Macías Castañeda in the town of Nuevo Laredo for supposedly posting comments to social-networking sites under the name Laredo Girl. The sign next to her body (pictured above) read, “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo and social networking sites, I’m The Laredo Girl, and I’m here because of my reports, and yours.”
That same month, two bodies were found hanging next to a sign that stated, “This is going to happen to all Internet snitches. Pay attention, I’m watching you.”
The name of the supposedly kidnapped Anonymous member was not revealed. If the collective does reveal the identities of Zeta members, those members will likely be vulnerable to attacks from rival gangs.
[via BBC News]
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