Mexican blogger left decapitated on bridge

On Sept. 23, people in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, were faced with an all-too familiar scenario.

María Elizabeth Macías, anonymous blogger, was found decapitated with a warning note next to her body stating, "I am La Nena de Laredo (roughly, sweetheart of Laredo) and I am here because of my reports and yours … for those of you who don't want to believe it, this has happened to me because of my actions ... " the Reporters Without Borders website reported.

Macías was "newsroom manager" of Primera Hora, according to Marelos Canseco, interior secretary of northern Tamaulipas.

The note was signed "zzz" a signature often attributed to the organized drug cartel, the Zetas, which is Spanish for "z."

The website states Macias' blogs reported and editorialized about organized crime and drug cartels under the pseudonym "La Nena de Nuevo Laredo."

According to CNN, within the past month, two other bloggers writing about drug cartels were found tortured and hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo. Their bodies remain unidentified.

The woman was disemboweled, hogtied and topless. The man was hung from his hands, his right shoulder lacerated to the bone.

A sign posted near the bodies read, "This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the Internet." The other said, "You better (expletive) pay attention. I'm about to get you."

The website states that because many blogs use pseudonyms and the bodies were unidentified, the two victims have not been determined to be bloggers.

Diana Fuentes, current editor of the Del Rio News-Herald, said, "The border is its own entity."

Fuentes was editor of the Laredo Morning Times for seven years and previously worked at San Antonio's daily newspapers.

She said working in a border town means the line between U.S. news and news in Mexico becomes blurred. "You're a little bit of Mexico and a little bit of the United States," she said.

Fuentes said daily life doesn't appear to have changed in border towns. Trade is booming between the two countries, and she affirmed that thousands of people continue to cross the border to and from Mexico for shopping, work or recreational activities every day.

On Sept. 28, the newspaper's online site links to stories about an elementary school construction project being ahead of schedule and an art gallery opening on the north side of Del Rio.

However, the continued daily life of people is not unmarred by violence from drug cartels. Fuentes said the lack of structure in the Mexican justice system, poor record-keeping and people's fear of retaliation for reporting crimes allow criminals to go unpunished. She said it allows killers to act with virtual impunity.

Reporters Without Borders states 80 journalists have been killed for reporting about drug cartels and organized crime in Mexican border cities. However, Fuentes said not all of the journalists were killed in the line of work, but people are often defined by their profession. She does not know for sure how all the journalists died, but said she knows three of them were killed in a bar brawl and one was suspected of involvement with illegal activities.

She said she does know journalists are in danger when they report in Mexico and can be targets.

"We empathize with our fellow journalists," she said. "To be killed for doing something you believe in, something that does good in the community, that's a hero to me."

She said news of journalists being kidnapped and murdered has affected the way her staff works.

The staff does not travel on highways because criminals construct fake checkpoints to rob or kidnap; a buddy system is in place when reporters cross the border; staffers are aware of coworkers leaving the newsroom and when they are expected back; traveling by oneself at night is inadvisable; and they're particularly aware of their surroundings across the border.

She said the danger has not stopped her reporters or photographers from covering hard news. "What we do is important to a democracy, and we can't let these drug cartels shut us up."

While she knows some news organizations stopped reporting cartel crimes because of bombing of newsrooms and murdering families of editors, she does not think less of them. "I don't want to judge those people," Fuentes said. "We're not in their shoes."

César Rodriguez, Ranger editor in fall 2006 and a reporter for the Laredo Morning Times, said the newspaper does not report in Mexico, but he frequently writes about crime that may be connected to the violence in Mexico.

At The Ranger, he was a sports and environment reporter. "Crime is definitely more exciting than sports; that's for sure," he said.

Rodriguez said he began working for the Laredo Morning Times in August 2009 after graduating from Texas State University-San Marcos.

He said when he graduated, he wasn't looking for his ideal job as a sports writer. He was just hoping to get a job that paid. "I've never dealt with police, and at the time, all the Zeta killings in Laredo and Nueva Laredo were all done. The police had closed the cases," he said.

Taking a job as a crime reporter in a border town was not daunting for him. He said he thought an opportunity would arise to write sports, however, after two years, he said he is hooked. He says writing about people who have died, for any reason, is difficult. "That's one of the toughest parts, when someone gets killed," he said.

His former editor Fuentes told him, "You need to put a face to that person."

He said reporting about death and justice or injustice served to them helps a person's family heal.

He said although some people decline to talk about deceased loved ones, most people are willing to share stories about them and are comforted knowing their loved one's death does not go unnoticed.

Rodriguez said he heeds similar advice as Fuentes, but relies mostly on "feeling people out" before talking to them about controversial news.