"The Fugitive Reporter Exposing Mexico's Drug Cartels These are the opening paragraphs of Dying for the Truth, a book written about the infamous Blog del Narco, which fills Mexicans in on the (often bloody) activities of the murderous local drug cartels, where the nation's mainstream media has failed: Shortly before we completed this book, two people—a young man and woman who worked with us—were disembowelled and hung off a bridge in Tamaulipas, a state in the north of Mexico. Large handwritten signs, known as narcobanners, next to their bodies mentioned our blog, and stated that this was what happened to internet snitches. The message concluded with a warning that we were next. A few days later, they executed another journalist in Tamaulipas who regularly sent us information. The assassins left keyboards, a mouse, and other computer parts strewn across her body, as well as a sign that mentioned our blog again. However, we refuse to be intimidated. As you can see, the people who keep the blog running risk their lives to do so. The book, which will be published in both English and Spanish by Feral House, will include a selection of the most relevant posts and pictures published between March 2, 2010, when the blog first started, and February 2011. Choosing to remain anonymous for safety reasons, the blog's editor finally agreed to talk about her work, and the threats and trials she and the site's programmer have faced in order to keep this project alive for so long. According to the book, in 2012, their website—whose aim is to collect uncensored articles and images about the Mexican cartel's extreme violence, their activities, and the government's fight against them—registered an average of 25 million visits a month. According to Alexa, it is one of the most visited sites in Mexico. Although criticized by some media outlets for publishing gory images and information that's given to them by cartels (such as executions and video messages aimed at rival organizations), the blog has become an essential source of news for journalists, citizens, and visitors. VICE had the opportunity to speak with Lucy (a pseudonym she has chosen to protect her identity) about her blog, her new book, and what's next for Blog del Narco. VICE: Let's start from the beginning. How did Blog del Narco come about?Lucy: It was a way to show we were angry with the authorities and the media who had forgotten their number one responsibility, which is to keep the public informed. I'm a journalist, and my partner does both social networks and programming—so the idea was born, and on March 2, 2010, we went live with the blog. Was there anything in particular that made you act?Stories from people like, ""I went on vacation to Tamaulipas and they were saying absolutely nothing on the news. I walked into the lion's den and the gangs stole my vehicle, they locked me up for two days""—that kind of situation. People who had nothing to do with this, but ended up being affected due to a lack of information. Why weren't the media reporting what was going on?They had been gagged in two ways: the federal government had told them, ""You won't say anything, there's nothing going on here,"" and on the other hand, there was the pressure from the criminal organizations. Continue"
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